One Step at a Time
by LeavesAreGreeen
Summary: Sometimes, you have to kiss a few frogs before finding your Prince Charming. Lambo/OCs, Slow build Reborn/Lambo. Set 4 years before the events of Baby Blues.
1. Chapter 1

So it turns out that I will have quite a lot of free time the next two months which means I get to write to my heart's content, hooray~ Once again, there's a 3 year age gap between Lambo and Reborn but nothing happens while they're still underage.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 17, June**

Lambo glanced at the ticking clock to see that it was 10 minutes to 12. He had school tomorrow but instead of sleeping, he was seated at the dining table with his best friend, I-Pin. He felt bad for keeping her awake but he knew no one else to confide in. The guardian drummed his fingers on the table and jiggled his leg, thinking about a way to break the news to his family.

"Just bring Akira over for dinner and they'll see how disgustingly cute the two of you are," his sister suggested.

Disgustingly cute. Was that an insult or a compliment?

Besides, it was easy for her to say. She was the best daughter the Sawadas could ever ask for. Good grades and excellent conduct, with her future plans all set out. He seriously wondered how his sister managed to find time to accept missions from Fon, do her homework and study at the same time. Then there were weekly training sessions and her part time job at the ramen shop. I-Pin aside, Fuuta was also making a name for himself by studying to become a doctor in one of the best medical colleges in Namimori.

Meanwhile, Lambo was only achieving mediocre scores and on most days, couldn't be bothered with school or his homework wanting to have fun with his friends instead. Tsuna still hesitated to give him too much Vongola duties because he was afraid the lightning guardian wouldn't be able to cope. He was 17 years old and his older brother still treated him like a child sometimes.

Should he just take his secret to his grave? No matter how kind and accepting the Sawadas were, there were limits that shouldn't be crossed.

I-Pin clicked her tongue, she wasn't buying his negative thoughts, "If they put up with you for the past 12 years, I'm sure nothing fazes them by now."

Lambo frowned, yes they may have tolerated his nonsense and tantrums but this was a particularly touchy subject. There was no way for sure that the Sawadas would just let it slide like all the other times.

"Just do it, Lambo," she advised, "No point overthinking it."

He flashed her a grateful smile, " _Yare, yare_ , what I will ever do without you?"

"Probably fall in a ditch and die," she deadpanned.

He gave her a dirty look as she chuckled and left the kitchen. Lambo sighed, all that was left to do was to ask Nana if he could bring over a friend for dinner. He knows that she wouldn't mind, the lady loved to feed his friends. The problem was how she and the rest of the family would react to this particular friend.

* * *

"Why aren't you eating, Lambo?"

The concerned voice of Nana snapped him out of his thoughts and he found her looking at him worriedly. They were having curry for dinner tonight, Lambo's absolute favourite but he had no appetite to eat his meal in the light of his internal crisis. Along with her, the rest of the people at the dining table had turned to regard him curiously and that unnerved him slightly. His eyes darted from left to right and finally landed on his best friend who smiled at him reassuringly.

Sorry, I-Pin, he thought, he was on the verge of chickening out.

The guardian gulped, "Er, I am Mama. I'm just savouring every mouthful cause it's been too long since you last made curry."

Nana was a bit confused, "Really? I thought I made it 2 weeks ago."

The guardian laughed awkwardly and proceeded to grab a heaping spoonful of curry and rice to shove it into his mouth, "Delicious!" he proclaimed while giving her a thumbs up.

Of course, I-Pin wasn't one to stand for his nonsense and promptly kicked him in the shin underneath the table. The guardian choked from the shock and pain, and through watery eyes, he could see her silently mouthing at him to tell them.

"Careful, Lambo! Don't talk with your mouth full," Nana chided.

Fuuta firmly patted his back and Kyoko handed him a glass of water to drink. The guardian thanked his blond older brother and composed himself. Tsuna peered at him curiously and Lambo knew that the brunet had already guessed that something was up. Pushing food around his dinner plate was probably categorized as odd behaviour. Normally, he would have gobbled up his meal and asked for seconds in just a few minutes.

Lambo organized his thoughts, assessing the scene before him. Everyone had mostly gone back to eating, except for his best friend who was still glowering at him. Yes, he was hesitating but he couldn't exactly butt in while Reborn and Bianchi were talking to each other. It was mainly small talk, with Bianchi asking the hitman about the mission he just came back from. The lucky bastard had gone to Morocco this time round and he bought interesting souvenirs for everybody else except for Lambo who had gotten a lame keychain instead.

He waited for them to finish their conversation before saying his piece.

"Mama," he started, "Can I bring a friend over for dinner tomorrow?" be calm and cool, he reminded himself.

"Is it Hinata-chan? Are guys doing a group project?," she distractedly asked, "She's allergic to prawns right? I'll make sure to not make ebi-fry like last time. Poor girl could only eat rice and miso soup."

He stalled for a moment, "Um, no, it isn't Hinata-chan. It's this friend named Akira," he paused and averted his eyes away, "Who's more than a friend actually," he mumbled.

There he said it, well, not the full story but at least it was something.

He heard the clatter of cutlery against the china plate and looked up to see that Nana was positively beaming and on the verge of squealing. The rest of the table looked a bit shocked or in Reborn's case, not bothered at all.

"Of course it's more than alright!" Nana clapped her hands excitedly, "What does Akira-chan like? Is she allergic to anything?" she then went on to ask a bunch of different questions about Akira's dietary requirements and food preferences.

"Anything's fine, Mama, thanks," he smiled.

He had better make his escape because his family was bound to interrogate him six ways from sunday, especially Nana. He made up a random excuse about having to do his homework and quickly bolted up to his room.

* * *

The moment they heard the door to Lambo's room close, Fuuta was the first to speak up and he questioned I-Pin about Akira. All at once, four other heads turned to her expectantly and the teen silently cursed her best friend who left the family for her to deal with.

How should she explain it to them?

"Well," she began, "Akira's really funny and the two of them are very cute together."

It was the truth anyway.

Fuuta chuckled, "You know, his behaviour in the past few months is starting to make more sense. I should have known."

Confused, the table turned to the blond for an explanation.

The medical student stated his observations from the way Lambo was constantly texting or talking to someone on the phone to staying out late frequently. The teen would also randomly space out and smile to himself for no reason. The dreamy look was a top giveaway for someone who was lovesick.

"Ah, young love," Bianchi sighed, "You can't help the heart flutters when you think about your lover."

Fuuta chuckled, "If your heart flutters all the time it's a sign to see the doctor," The blond's smile turned a bit more mischievous, "Sorry to say this but he hasn't been annoying us as much. He hasn't set a booby trap for Reborn-san in ages!"

I-Pin giggled along with the rest of the table, except for Reborn who was sporting a tiny smirk instead. Lambo was too preoccupied with Akira to bother him or anybody else recently. It must have been because he was still in the 'honeymoon phase' of his relationship but she missed her best friend very much.

"Lambo's growing up, isn't he? He's already gotten his first girlfriend," Nana mused, "Very soon, it'll be I-Pin's turn," she smiled knowingly.

The teen could feel her face warming up a bit, "Not yet, Mama."

Even if there was someone, there was no way she could find time to go out on dates with the amount of work she has on a daily basis. How Lambo miraculously finds all the time for his parties and dates she would never know. Sometimes, she envied how carefree he was with all their impending exams and tests. He even managed to get decent grades without studying that much. If he would just put in the effort to sit down and revise his work, he would even surpass her.

"Mama, shall I help you with the cooking? I think Akira-chan will like my new specialties."

Tsuna looked a bit alarmed and he fervently protested against Bianchi volunteering her services but he was ignored as the woman continued to describe the dishes one by one.

"I wonder if Akira-chan will be as cute as Hinata-chan," Nana thought out loud, "Our Lambo is always popular with the girls even though he's so clumsy."

I-Pin couldn't agree with her more but she felt her own smile faltering, "It would mean a lot to Lambo if you welcome them as a couple."

If anybody noticed how oddly she phrased her sentence, they didn't call her out on it and for that she was grateful. Afterall, it wasn't her secret to tell.

* * *

The next evening, Tsuna was walking back home with Kyoko after his mother had sent them out on an errand run to the supermarket. Apparently, there wasn't enough food for all of them.

"Why do we need so much of food? Isn't it just the 8 of us?" he complained.

The grocery bags were barely holding everything together. Thankfully, they were about to reach the Sawada Household soon in just a few more minutes. The brunet stopped to get a proper grip of the bags before continuing on. Kyoko seemed to have no trouble at all and she was carrying much more than him.

"Well..." his girlfriend trailed off, "It might be a little bit more than that," she laughed a little awkwardly.

"Is Shamal joining us too?"

If Bianchi was cooking, the doctor was the only person brave enough to eat all of it. He could cure himself anyways so Tsuna didn't have to worry about anyone dying on his watch.

Kyoko nodded with a sheepish smile, "And Haru."

If Kyoko's best friend was coming, too much food would not be a problem. Haru was eating for two people as she was four months pregnant and Tsuna was always amazed by how much she was eating these days. They rounded the corner of the street and he could immediately hear familiar voices coming from the house and smell some meat cooking on the grill.

Oh, no.

Tsuna's jaw dropped, forget ten people, there were twice number of people in his front yard and they were having a mini barbeque party. In the 30 minutes he was gone, they had managed to set up a long table and turn his front yard into a party venue. Where did the streamers and balloons even come from? He quickly went up to his friends and questioned them about their presence.

"The more the merrier isn't it?" grinned Yamamoto.

"I am only here because I can't believe that Stupid Cow got himself a girlfriend," Gokudera groused.

"Let's welcome Lambo's girlfriend to the extreme!"

It was a little bit extreme, the brunet thought to himself. He glanced around and noticed Reborn and a few former Arcobalenos seated at the end of the table along with Shamal. He decided to text his younger brother about the turn out and immediately his phone kept vibrating in short intervals. He opened up the chat to find Lambo's panicked texts informing him that he would not be bringing Akira along at all. Before he could even formulate a reply, his younger brother had already spammed him with over a dozen messages so the brunet gave up and pressed the call icon.

"Tsuna-nii, I don't think we can come," Lambo whined, "It'll be too much!"

Tsuna heard a bit of background noise before the guardian spoke, "No, really. We can go somewhere else for dinner."

"It's okay, Lambo. I know our family can be a little bit intimidating and if Akira is uncomfortable, we'll just reschedule," the brunet reassured the guardian.

There more muffled noises, Lambo seemed to be having a mini discussion with his girlfriend.

"Nah, it's all good," said his younger brother, "We're actually walking down the street right now. See you in a minute, I guess?"

The mafia boss ended the call with a weary sigh. He surveyed the crowd and spotted I-Pin looking as uneasy as he felt, perhaps even more so. Outsiders were always wary of their family and he didn't want Lambo's very first girlfriend to be scared off just because of his associations. The former Arcobalenos could be easily passed off as cosplaying teenagers and his other guardians were relatively normal looking. Thank goodness Hibari and Mukuro weren't present or there would have been a war on the roof of their house with tonfas and a trident clashing every few seconds.

The gates slid open and two teenaged boys walked in, one of them being his younger brother who was taken aback by the amount of people in their front yard and the other peering at the crowd curiously. The two of them shared a worried look and the other boy reached out to grab Lambo's hand in his, giving his younger brother a small smile.

Oh.

Tsuna instantly caught on but as for his mother, she had gone up to them to ask if Lambo was bringing more friends to the party.

Lambo glanced around nervously, "This is the friend I was telling you about," he nudged the teen next to him.

"Hi, Sawada-san, I'm Akira," the boy grinned, "It's so nice to finally meet you! The bentos you make for Lambo are super tasty!"

At this point, some jaws were left hanging and Tsuna could hear a bit of confusion from the people around him.

Nana's eyes went wide like saucers, "You didn't tell me Akira's a boy! Oh, dear!"

"Now, Mom, I don't think it's a big deal," his eyes followed her as she brisked back to the house, "Mom?" he called out to her but was ignored.

The Vongola boss turned to look back at his younger brother apologetically. The poor kid looked like he was about to cry. Akira whispered something into his ear but the teen didn't look any less upset. Nobody else dared to say a word and the atmosphere was a bit tense while they processed what just happened.

Tsuna made an attempt to console his younger brother, "It's going to be alright, Lambo. I think Mom is just a little bit shocked, that's all."

There were a couple of nods and agreements from the table but the two teenage boys were apprehensive about the whole situation. It couldn't have been easy for his younger brother to come out to a large crowd and he recalled how Akira was the one to convince him to bring him along to the party. Even he didn't anticipate a meet the family dinner to turn into a barbeque party with at 20 people. Props to the teen for finding the courage when Lambo couldn't gather enough on his own.

When Nana reappeared, there was a bright pink gift bag in her hands and a smile on her face, a good sign.

"I hope it's to your liking. If Lambo had told me you were a boy..." she trailed off, handing Akira the gift bag.

The teen accepted the bag and fished out a fuschia pink knitted scarf which was glaringly pink in Tsuna's eyes.

"I made it pink because it's such a cute colour but if I had known you were a boy then maybe blue or green would have been a better choice."

"No, no, Sawada-san! I love it! Besides, guys look hotter in pink." he winked and gave Nana a big hug while thanking her.

Lambo was visibly relieved and Tsuna wondered why his mother gifted a scarf in the middle of summer. Nana ushered the young couple to the table where I-Pin, Haru, Kyoko and Chrome were seated. Akira greeted them all with a charming smile and the women were immediately smitten. After a brief introduction, they found out that he's a senior at Namimori High School which both Lambo and I-Pin attended.

"Akira's really smart. He tutors me in Math and thanks to him it's a lot easier."

Really?

Lambo and I-Pin usually had tutoring sessions with Reborn for Math and the hitman had really helped to improve their grades, especially Lambo's. Or was it because of all the extra help the guardian was getting from Akira?

"Nah, you're just a good tutee, babe," Akira winked at his boyfriend.

A few chairs down, where Tsuna and the rest were, they heard coos from Haru and Kyoko. I-Pin had a cheek splitting smile as she watched the couple, Tsuna could tell she was really happy for Lambo.

Yamamoto whistled, "Lambo's boyfriend seems like a nice guy."

Shamal had a furrow between his brows, "Am I the only one that's really confused?"

Tsuna sighed, "Shamal-san, it's the 21st century, you know. It's about time we become more accepting of-"

The doctor immediately protested, "No, I didn't mean it like that! The kid's very popular with the ladies so suddenly bringing home a boyfriend is a little surprising."

"Tch, whatever, I knew that Stupid Cow would never get a girlfriend," Gokudera remarked.

Tsuna's lips quirked up into a smile at his comment. The lightning guardian might be handsome and have a friendly personality, but the brunet often wondered how Lambo was so popular with the girls even when he was such a crybaby. Now he had to think about giving 'The Talk' to his younger brother but he had no idea about what to say because Akira turned out to be a boy. Perhaps he should ask Gokudera or Yamamoto to handle it.

Nana announced that the food was ready and Bianchi presented a plate of ominous looking food to an intrigued Akira who almost accepted much to everyone's horror.

Thankfully, Shamal intervened, "Oh, Bianchi, _mia signora_ , I would be so honoured to try your new specialty," he took the plate away before the teen could even touch it.

Yamamoto made use of the distraction to call Akira over to their side of the table.

"Don't interrogate him too much you guys!" Haru called out and the ladies laughed.

Akira greeted them politely and sat down, "You're Yamamoto-san and you're Sasagawa-san right? So nice to finally meet you! You guys are like legends at Namimori Middle."

The Sun guardian perked up when Akira mentioned he was the captain of the high school's football team and his position was the striker. Yamamoto and Ryohei invited him to play baseball with them sometime to which the 18 year old accepted, adding on that he was not very good at baseball.

Lambo grinned at his boyfriend, "It's okay, babe, I'll teach you," he winked.

Akira smirked, "Oh, and what _position_ do you play?"

That was definitely flirting and Tsuna was not so sure he could stomach that thought. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, inquiring about the senior's future plans. Akira informed him that he was going to apply for Namimori University to major in Business and Finance as his father wanted him to take over the company one day. Tsuna's jaw almost dropped when he learnt that the teen's father owned a popular chain of ramen restaurants in their town. Coincidentally, I-Pin did her part time job at one of the nearby branches. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Reborn approached the table, asking him to take a look at something. Akira took notice of the young teen and turned to greet him.

"Hello, little boy! Lambo, you didn't tell me you had a younger brother. He's kinda cute all dressed up," he scanned the hitman from head to toe, "Is that a chameleon on your shoulder?"

Reborn glared at the unsuspecting brunet smiling at him, clearly the older teen's comments were not welcomed. There was an awkward pause and Tsuna could tell Akira was starting to feel a bit nervous being under the hitman's scrutiny. Fortunately for the senior, Lambo diverted his boyfriend's attention and dragged him to the barbeque pit to get more food. As the lovebirds walked away, he could hear Akira asking the lightning guardian if his little brother did not like him.

"Pretty Boy's boyfriend kinda looks familiar," Skull thought out loud.

Tsuna turned to the former Cloud Arcobaleno, wondering if he heard correctly. He was a bit confused, did Skull just call his brother a 'Pretty Boy'?

Lal Mirch leaned forward, "Is he part of the mafia?"

Oh, damn, he didn't think of that. Tsuna made mental note to do a bit of background check on Akira just to confirm the teen's story. He didn't want any unwanted trouble for his family and his younger brother. Lambo appeared to be very happy with his boyfriend and he didn't want anything to mess their relationship up.

Scratching his chin thoughtfully, the purple haired teen finally replied with a negative answer. As an afterthought, he asked Reborn and Tsuna to keep an eye on the lightning guardian.

The hitman narrowed his eyes at him, "Whatever that brat does is none of my business. Let's go, Dame-Tsuna," he ordered.

"Oi, don't walk away while I'm talkin'!" Skull looked at his other two seniors, "Geez, what's his problem?"

Colonello smirked, "He got called a 'cute little boy', kora!"

Tsuna suppressed a smile while the three of them burst out laughing. They were soon silenced when a bullet was shot through Colonello's cup, the soda spilling everywhere. In hushed tones, they commented how weird it was that the hitman was affected by a silly comment. Tsuna could not help but wonder too but brushed the thought off when he caught his tutor looking back him with a murderous glare.

Oops.

He quickly stood up and walked over to where the hitman was standing. They headed to a quiet corner to discuss the latest email the hitman had received from an allied family. So much for relaxing over the weekend, Tsuna thought.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's the end of Chapter 1. I picked the name Akira because it means light, like he sheds light on Lambo's sexuality. My boy Akira didn't seem like a Hikaru or a Kira in my head. (PS. I'm also very grateful to Amano Akira for this amazing series teehee)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** : Welcome to chapter 2! Before I start I want to honor the loss of an incredible artist. RIP Chester Bennington, you're a legend. I grew up listening to Linkin Park and their songs have helped to heal a lot of people. Mental health is very important and those who suffer from mental illnesses are fighting battles in their mind everyday, even if people can't see them. Don't ever feel like taking your own life is the only option, I urge you to talk to someone and seek help. If not a therapist/loved one there are hotlines available. Remember, better days have yet to come =)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OCs and ideas. I've taken liberties with Lambo's birth family, the Bovino _famiglia,_ and life after the series ended. Now onto the story proper!

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 17, August**

Finally, the long awaited summer vacation had arrived. Tsuna always made sure to accompany Lambo to Italy when he made his annual visit to the Bovino Mansion for his parents' death anniversary as well as his grandfather's. They had all passed away in a car crash just four months after he was born. Sometimes, the other guardians would visit the Vongola Mansion with them and they would take that time to do their mafia duties or tag along just to visit Italy.

This year was a bit different because Lambo had big news for the Bovino family. He might have come out to his family back in Japan but he hadn't done so with his birth family. His cousin Annetta knew only because she had figured it out when he would not so subtly drool over the hot gardener when he was 14. It was their little secret and she knew about Akira too.

He knew his grandmother wouldn't care, she practically disliked him from birth. The Bovino Boss, whom he affectionately referred to as _Nonno_ Augusto, was more of a grandparent to him than his biological grandmother. The old man was always setting him up with daughters of acquaintances in hopes of seeing him settle down early like his parents had once did. His Aunt Ottavia shared the same beliefs and hoped for Annetta and Lambo to quickly find a respectable person to marry and start having their own family as well. He knew she would not be receptive to his preferences considering how religious she was.

He had briefly discussed his plans with Annetta and she too thought it wasn't a good idea to tell her mother about his sexual orientation just yet. Annetta was pretty sure that Nonno Augusto would be cool with it but Lambo wasn't convinced. He didn't want to disappoint the old man and his aunt because he a) he wasn't sure about getting married and b) he was scared of having kids. Having heard various stories of his ridiculous antics as a child, he was absolutely terrified of raising one of his own.

The Bovino Mansion was a three hour drive from the Vongola Mansion and thus closer to town and actual civilization. Augusto had business in Hong Kong and he had left after the day after his grandfather's and parents' death anniversary so it was just him, Aunt Ottavia and Annetta in the mansion. His grandmother, Cecelia, had also taken off right after paying her respects. It couldn't have been easy to cope with the loss of her son, her daughter-in-law and her husband at one go. Lambo didn't know why she was so distant towards him but it made sense that his grandmother couldn't bare to look at him without being reminded of her grief. His aunt dealt with the loss by pouring all her time and energy into raising him and Annetta. He didn't know much about the accident and he dare to ask either.

* * *

Living in Japan since he was five meant that he was not as close to his cousin growing up compared to I-Pin and Fuuta. Annetta was the cool older cousin that took care of him whenever he visited the mansion during the summer holidays. There was a time when Lambo resented her because their grandmother favoured her more and didn't even try to hide it. As he grew older, he understood that it was pointless to be jealous of his cousin and that it wasn't her fault. He had learnt to ignore his grandmother or avoid her whenever she visited the mansion. His grandmother worked for the military so she was rarely around and for that, Lambo was grateful.

They had just finished dinner not long ago and while Ottavia had retired early, Annetta and Lambo were staying up late to hang out in the guardian's room. She nudged his side and waggled her eyebrows, "When are you going to properly introduce me to my future brother-in-law?"

The lightning guardian could feel his cheeks growing warm, "We've barely dated for 6 months you know."

"Time doesn't matter. It's how well you know a person," she said.

Lambo hummed noncommittally, mind wandering to his boyfriend. He really missed Akira and his boyfriend hadn't replied to any of his texts that day. When he checked various social media platforms, he saw that his boyfriend had been out partying till the wee hours of the morning. Being seven hours behind Japan, he understood that he shouldn't expect a response straight away but it would have been nice to have one just to know the teen hadn't been abducted by aliens or something.

"Earth to Afro," Annetta snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Why do you look so sad? Trouble in paradise?"

" _Yare, yare,"_ the teen sighed, "I don't know. I feel like he's not into me as he was before."

Annetta's brows pinched together and she asked him to elaborate. To the best of his ability, Lambo tried to put his thoughts into words. The fire that fueled their relationship was dying down and he could feel his boyfriend slowly pulling away.

When they had first met, it was through a mutual friend, Hinata, who he had come out too way before I-Pin or his family. She had dragged him to the club on Valentine's Day wanting to play matchmaker and to find someone for him. The legal clubbing age was 18 but the bouncer didn't check their IDs and Lambo figured he was given more leeway because he was a foreigner. They danced to crappy techno music and they had their first kiss while a poorly done remix of the latest pop song was playing in the background. It quickly became the senior's ringtone on the guardian's phone and he played it so often that I-Pin had grown to hate it. She would groan whenever it came on the radio but hearing the song always made Lambo feel butterflies in his stomach and put a smile on his face.

When it got out that Lambo was dating Akira, a handful of boys in his class started to grow wary of him and their behaviour turned cold. It never escalated to any form of bullying but the disgusted stares sent chills down Lambo's spine one more than one occasion. Most of his classmates were rather supportive and some girls expressed their regrets over him being taken but it was all in jest. The teachers turned a blind eye, as with all the other relationships in school but they do remind the students to keep public displays of affection to a minimum. There were a couple of homophobic teachers but the principal had zero tolerance for harassment of any kind so both students and teachers were protected by that. Lambo guessed the man might be supportive of LGBTQ rights but couldn't express his views because it would be politically inappropriate. It might even give grounds for the conservative parents to demand him to be relieved of his position because of moral issues.

The disciplinary committee during and after Hibari Kyoya's leadership was one not to be trifled with. Akira's close friend and classmate, Chen, was the current head which explained why most students didn't dare to speak ill of the senior. The guardian had been called in several times because of tardiness or failure to submit homework on time and every single visit put the fear of Chen in him. He was a calm and collected person, polite and amiable to students and teacher alike. He didn't take his duties very lightly and can be very strict when dealing with students who have broken the rules. Lambo knew better than to get on his bad side.

Akira was also one of the popular kids in school because he was rich and good looking. He was also the star athlete and a teacher's pet because his grades were excellent and always ended up in the top ten percent of the cohort. It was widely known that Akira preferred boys but nobody dared to say a word to his face because they were too scared to offend him and Chen by association.

Merely three months into dating, just after the whole meet the family barbeque, Akira had expressed his desire to bring their relationship to the next level. It happened during a steamy makeout session in Akira's room on a Wednesday afternoon. Lambbo felt his half hard member being palmed and instantly freaked out. The brunet was confused when he was abruptly pushed away and also mildly irritated. The lightning guardian admitted to being a virgin which caused his boyfriend to raise an eyebrow but he knew that was only to be expected. Being a foreigner seemed to give people an idea that he was very experienced in the sexual department.

If they counted his dreams and fantasies then maybe.

There were many times when their makeout sessions would be halted because Lambo was uncomfortable with the notion of going further. And each time Akira would say that it was okay but the guardian could tell that he was growing impatient. How was one supposed to explain to his boyfriend that he was very turned on but felt that it was far too soon? It was his very first relationship and he really wanted the full experience of dating, getting to know one another and all the innocent parts being in a relationship. Moreover, the adults in his life have also taught him to value the emotional parts of relationships more than the physical aspect. He thought Tsuna and Kyoko were 'relationship goals' because their feelings for one another were so sincere and they took their own sweet time to develop their relationship. Of course he didn't want to take 8 years to eventually ask someone out.

With Akira, he felt like his boyfriend's intentions were less of getting to know him and more of getting to know his private parts.

Annetta was listening attentively but he could tell she didn't approve of what she was hearing. She waited for him to finish before putting in her two cents into the matter.

"He's a teenage boy, what do you expect? They think with their penises," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm a teenage boy too," he pointed out.

She chuckled but didn't say anything.

Lambo felt a bit suspicious, "I do admit to being horny but I don't reek of desperation do I?"

His cousin burst out laughing and slapped his arm painfully quite a number of times. Lambo winced and waited till she calmed down, which took a while.

"No, you don't," she tittered while wiping a tear off the corner of her eye, "Sorry, I just thought about your stupid horns and made a joke in my head."

Lambo was definitely not impressed, "I don't want to know."

Making fun of his horns seemed to be one of her past times only because of how ridiculous he used to look when he had his afro hair. Cute was one of the adjectives used by Haru and Kyoko but it was only the two of them. He did look cute and lot of people were envious of his hair but they didn't understand how thick and heavy his hair felt and how many hair brushes broke when trying to comb through it. Puberty did him so much justice.

Annetta enforced her previous opinion and asked if Akira was a virgin to which Lambo replied with a 'no'. He had also found out an interesting rumour that the senior's relationships never lasted more than a couple of months. He did try addressing the rumours but his boyfriend usually brushed his questions off.

"You think he's only in this to get in your pants?"

"Not me. Skull."

Annetta raised an eyebrow, silently questioning why the former Cloud Arcobaleno's name popped up.

Their paths usually crossed at the clubs and the first time it happened, they didn't acknowledge each other at all mostly because Skull didn't notice him and Lambo wasn't sure if it was alright to approach him. The second time called for awkward greetings at the men's restroom and it was only on their third meeting that Lambo decided to strike a conversation much to Skull's astonishment. His normal impression of Skull wasn't a positive one because of Reborn and the others' opinion of him but as he got to know the teen, he found himself seeing the former Arcobaleno in a different light. They shared the same music tastes and he was easy to talk to. Skull cursed like a sailor, held nothing back when he spoke and Lambo usually found himself laughing his ass off whenever they talked.

They weren't exactly friends but it was on a deeper level than just acquaintances. They only ever met at the clubs or special mafia gatherings. He still didn't know how the teen managed to enter the nightclubs but Skull had wide connections and secured guest lists for most of the bars and night clubs in town.

"We're sort of friends now," he said, "He says Akira can be a bit of a player."

"Just be careful, okay?"

The guardian nodded, that was what Skull had told him too.

"Also," she continued, "You have the right to say no if you don't want to have sex. His right hand exists for a reason."

He snorted, "Yes, ma'am."

Sometimes, Lambo felt bad for denying it and often wondered if he should just give in. He was absolutely afraid of the intimacy and it didn't help that his boyfriend's touches did not sit right with him. Different people have different needs and it can be hard to find someone who can fulfill their every need. The more he thought about it, he wondered why the senior was still with an inexperienced person like him.

* * *

Sunday was Lambo's last day at the Bovino Mansion before he left for the Vongola Mansion. He was packing his stuff just half an hour before the driver was coming to pick him up. He tried to pack as neatly as he could but gave up and threw everything into his duffel bag. He had successfully managed to zip up his fully stuffed bag when he heard a knock on the door.

"Lambo, I would like to speak with you," his aunt's eyebrows were drawn together, expression pensive.

He had a bad feeling but decided to ignore it, welcoming her into his room with a bright, cheeky grin instead. He could tell that she wasn't in a good mood Aunt Ottavia because she stalked right past him to sit down on the lounge chair. She took out her phone and after a few swiping motions, she held out her phone for him to see.

Lambo's stomach sank, the picture was of him and Akira hugging and kissing. He recognized it from one of Hinata's uploads from Akira's birthday party in April.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, her voice stern.

The guardian gulped, there was a lump in his throat that he could not swallow. His heart pounded in his chest and his hands gripped the sides of his shirt to stop them from shaking. He really wanted to run away, he knew he had to discuss it with her sooner or later but he hoped it wouldn't have to be so soon.

"You know this isn't natural?"

Lambo wanted to deny that statement but he couldn't talk.

His aunt went on about how it was only right for a man and woman to be together and other things but he was only aware of her voice getting more and more hostile as she spoke. This was what he was afraid of, to be deemed as a sinner just because he liked boys.

"Mama!" he heard Annetta exclaim as she came into the room.

The brunette walked over to his side and she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He let a huge sigh of relief, a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"I'm not saying anything wrong, Annetta," Aunt Ottavia crossed her arms petulantly.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay and just because he loves a boy doesn't mean he's any less of a person."

The woman rolled her eyes, "All you young people seem to think it's cool to be gay or whatever," she muttered, "I hope you come to your senses and put an end to this fling. Think about your future, Lambo, you wouldn't be able to marry or have kids."

"It's not a fling, Zietta, I really like him."

He carefully left out his plans on not having kids so as to not aggravate her any further. His aunt's expression twisted in disgust and she waved him off, "Stop with your nonsense. You've become so willful and impudent while growing up in Japan. I strongly suggest you return back to Italy after high school."

"But I want to study there!" the guardian protested, "And I can't just leave the Vongola-"

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "All you ever do is monkey around-"

He balled his fists at his side, "I don't!"

Lambo had been taking his duties more seriously although he still found himself lazy to do them. He might have missed a couple of training sessions but he always made sure to do whatever work that was asked of him.

"You were the ones who shipped me off to Japan all those years ago and I'm very happy there," he could see his aunt wanting to interrupt him but he went on, "I've never considered coming back here because the Sawada Household feels a thousand times more like home than this place and they're not even my birth family."

His aunt looked as if someone had slapped her. If he was being harsh, he didn't care. It was the truth and there was no way he was going to let his aunt tell him what to do when they were the ones that gave him away.

" _Caro_ , we had no choice," she said wearily.

"You had no choice? What about me? I was 5 years old! Nobody asked _me_ if I wanted to be a guardian!"

The lights flickered and he could feel some sparks escaping him. Annetta urged him to calm down, telling him to breathe. The guardian recalled an exercise Fon had taught him if he ever lost his cool. He took a deep breath in, held it in for a three seconds and then let it out for six seconds. His temper was a problem if he was wearing his ring because when he felt very strong emotions, he tended to summon lightning without really meaning too.

He had to get out of there. He wanted to cry and shout but he couldn't do that to the woman who raised him when he was a baby. He better leave before he said something he would regret. He grabbed his bag, mumbled out a goodbye and told them he would call once he reached the Vongola Mansion.

He paused at the doorway and turned to face his aunt, "I can't help who I love, _Zietta_. I'm not sorry."

He didn't even wait for an answer before stalking off with Annetta following closely behind him. She accompanied him to the entrance where the car was waiting for him. Aunt Ottavia hadn't come out to send him off but it was expected.

Annetta hugged him tightly and patted his back, "I hope you understand that the older generation were taught different values while growing up and they can't change overnight. Give her time to adjust."

He nodded into her shoulder. He understood what she was saying but he had hoped that his aunt would have accepted him wholeheartedly.

"I know. It went so smoothly with the Sawadas that I got my hopes up," he admitted.

His cousin gave him one last pat on the back and let go, "Don't worry about Mama. You know how she is sometimes."

Annetta waved to him as the car drove off. He thought he saw his aunt looking out from his bedroom window but by the time he could take a proper look, they had already gone out of the driveway. When the driver finally rolled up the partition, Lambo plucked in his earpiece and cried into the throw pillow for a long time.

* * *

Tsuna had a very productive day and he was looking forward to dinner because his stomach had been growling for the past two hours. Gokudera was fully concentrated on his work as usual and he hesitated to interrupt but he knew that his friend hadn't even stopped for a snack since they had started. Tsuna managed to grab a few biscottis from the kitchen when he stepped out of the office for a toilet break.

Yamamoto and Ryohei had not joined them that summer as they were both occupied with a mission along with Reborn. It was just him, Gokudera and Lambo for that two weeks. Speaking of the lightning guardian, it was almost time for the teen to arrive. Usually his younger brother would come up to the office and pester them into having dinner but it was well past seven p.m. and Tsuna gave up all hope of anybody coming up to remind them. He took another bite of the remaining biscotti, hoping the crunch would draw the storm guardian out of his thoughts.

Three loud bites later, the silver haired man showed no signs of stopping.

Just as he was about to resign to his fate of having chocolate biscotti for dinner, there was a knock on the door followed by a high pitched voice belonging to the head housekeeper of the Vongola Mansion. Tsuna let out a sigh of relief as Gokudera finally ceased his typing and looked up from his laptop.

"Come in, Nonna," he said.

The doors opened and a little old lady no taller than 145cm scurried in. Her petite size would fool anyone but everybody in the mansion knew she had a big and bold personality. Her real name was unknown and she preferred to be addressed as Nonna. The old lady, most probably in her fifties had been around since Timoteo was assigned as the Vongola Ninth. He heard she was from the military, which explained a whole lot.

" _Ciao, Signori_!" she sing-songed, "Are you two done for the day?"

Tsuna nodded, grateful for the little old lady's interruption. She reminded them to be down in 10 minutes and left, humming a little song as she brisked down the hallway. They packed up their desks and headed towards the dining room and Tsuna was surprised to see that Lambo wasn't already seated at the table.

"Nonna, where's Lambo?"

The old lady sighed as she poured some water into their glasses, "The boy is in his room, says he's got no appetite to eat. Nonna insisted that he come down but he doesn't want to."

She leaned down and dropped her voice, "Nonna thinks he fought with them. His eyes were swollen, poor thing," she tsked several times.

Tsuna wondered what they could have possibly fought over this time. Maybe his grandmother was around, the two of them weren't close and Lambo always insisted that Cecelia hated him. Tsuna thought his younger brother he might be a bit dramatic because a grandmother couldn't possibly hate her grandchild, right?

"I'll go up and talk to him later," he assured her.

"If you don't mind, _Signore_ , leave the boy to me," said the old lady.

Tsuna nodded, he knew Nonna and Lambo were pretty close and he presumed that she considered the lightning guardian to be like her own grandson. They only met once a year, during the summer but when the guardian was younger, he had quickly gotten attached to the old lady as she was the only one who was able to calm him down when he had his tantrums. Nonna was an excellent cook and Lambo loved her meatballs, often bringing home a few containers full of them to keep in the freezer. For that alone, he earned the nickname _Polpetto_ from the old lady which was a term of endearment meaning meatball.

" _Grazie_ , Nonna."

The little old lady smiled and they continued their dinner in silence. Tsuna practically inhaled his meal and died a little on the inside when Gokudera suggested they finish up their paperwork before retiring for the day. This wouldn't be happening if Yamamoto had come to Italy with them and he cursed his tutor for insisting on taking the rain guardian with him.

* * *

Lambo's stomach had been growling for the past few hours but he was too lazy to go down to the kitchen and hunt for food. He knew the kitchen staff were probably busy preparing for the next day and he didn't want to be a nuinsance. Perhaps he should have gone down when Nonna had asked him to. He was thankful that she didn't push him on the matter but he was regretting his poor life choices as he lay in bed scrolling through social media. He followed too many accounts that posted food porn and recipes. He caught himself drooling at a picture of a delectable looking beef burger and his stomach had given a rumble of approval.

There was a soft knock on the door, followed by a familiar voice he knew so well.

Nonna.

They had first met when Lambo was around 9 years old, the year Tsuna had officially taken over Timoteo. The guardians had flown into Italy to stay the Vongola Mansion during the summer for a whole month to prepare for an initiation ceremony and welcoming party. Three weeks, in Lambo's case because he had his annual Bovino Mansion visit. It was three long weeks of etiquette lessons, and having to behave like a good little boy at all times.

It sucked, royally.

They stuck him in stiff, collared suits tailored to fit him perfectly and the lightning guardian felt suffocated in them. He would be woken up early and the worst part was not being able to sleep in the same room as Tsuna or any of the other guardians so he couldn't really sleep a wink at night. He was so used to sharing a bed with his siblings that he wasn't prepared to be all alone in a big room all by himself. He missed Nana, I-Pin and Fuuta dearly and the other guardians were also busy so Lambo had no one to play with. That only added to his growing misery.

Eight days in, Lambo had enough of being ordered around and was restless the entire morning, grumbling and whining about his lessons and the stupid suit. One of Timoteo's guardians, he didn't know which because they were all scary looking, had given him a deadly glare and reprimanded him sharply. It wasn't a big deal but to the eight year old, it was a horrific experience and the Ninth guardian was very intimidating. He was petrified and bolted out of the door, and didn't stop running even after he was outside of the mansion.

When he had finally stopped, it was only because he was tired and out of breath. He ended up at the Vongola Gardens, just behind the mansion. He sat on a bench and cried his little lungs out. He felt truly alone in that moment, nobody had come for him and his brothers hadn't defended him when the scary man was scolding him.

A gentle voice had called out to him and through watery eyes he saw an old lady with a benign smile and crow's feet crinkling at her eyes. She set a plate of chocolate biscotti on the bench and asked him what was wrong. He poured his heart out to her about how nobody wanted to play with him and nobody liked him. She had patiently rocked him in her arms till his tears had subsided and he had more or less calmed down. It took skill to calm his child self down and she even promised to play with whenever he asked. He sobbed as he ate the biscottis and she patted his back when he choked on one. The little old lady was so kind he thought for sure that she was an angel from heaven.

However, the docile old lady from his memories must have been made up because this Nonna was always nagging at him.

The little old lady threw open the doors and switched on the lights, causing Lambo to wince at the sudden brightness. He could hear her stomping over to his bed and sure enough, she forcefully pried the blanket off him and started scolding him for taking naps so close to his bed time.

" _Yare, yare_ , I wasn't napping. I'm on my phone."

The old lady adjusted her spectacles and she pursed her lips in annoyance, "You'll spoil your eyes if you use your phone in the dark."

Lambo grinned sheepishly, "Noted with many thanks," and that earned him a knock on the head.

He pouted at her while she set off to tidy his room, grumbling under breath about how messy his room was. He sighed, the only thing he had messed up was the bed and he hadn't even unpacked yet.

"Nonna, I'm hungry," he whined.

"Who asked you to skip dinner? Nonna called you to come down many times but you didn't listen," she frowned, hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, please feed me _Nonnina_ ," he put on his best puppy dog eyes and clasped his hands together.

She rolled her eyes and beckoned him to head down to the kitchen with her. She heated up some leftovers from dinner and Lambo salivated as she plated the food and slid it over to him. He gleefully thanked her and hurriedly gorged down his meal. Nonna's cooking was heaven on earth and he was the luckiest person alive to be blessed with the opportunity to eat her food. The Vongola Mansion had a head chef but the guardian would insist on eating Nonna's cooking when he was younger. He was lucky Chef Valerio didn't poison his food because it was almost an insult to refuse the head chef's cooking.

Once he was satiated, he slumped into his chair and patted his tummy with a blissful smile on his face.

The little old lady eyed him curiously, "Are you going to tell Nonna why you're sad?"

He could either lie or tell the truth but she would always figure out when he was lying. Omission was as good as lying but he didn't want to expose his sexual orientation just in case she had the same reaction as Aunt Ottavia. Will she still cook meatballs for him if she found out?

"My aunt and I fought over university," he said, "She wants me to study here but I want to study in Japan."

The old lady raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"

It would have been embarrassing if he cried over that alone. He could see the skepticism written as clear as day on her face. Lambo sighed internally, he knew she wasn't going to buy it.

"Well, there were nasty things said along the way so," he trailed off and shrugged.

Her expression softened, " _Polpetto_ , you know you can always tell Nonna what's bothering you?"

Lambo nodded, he really did want to tell her but he wasn't sure if it was the right time. His aunt hadn't even replied his messages and Anetta told him she was cooped up in a room since he had left. Not just any room, his father's old bedroom.

Nonna reached across the table to pat his arm, "Next time, don't skip dinner because you're sad or angry. Food gives you strength and you need that strength to move forward."

Wise words from an old lady.

"I'm gonna make that my life motto," he chuckled.

He stood up and walked over to her side to give her a big hug. It was almost painful because he had to bend down a lot. The little old lady rubbed his back a few times and he wanted to cry but held it in. His eyes were already tired from crying earlier. She was warm and soft and it made him feel a lot better.

Perhaps he would tell her the truth but he would do so after he was sure all 10 containers of meatballs were safely stored in the private jet.

* * *

"Stupid Akira," he mumbled as his boyfriend left his messages unread for the upteenth time that day.

He was so close to calling the senior but it was probably seven a.m. there and he knew his boyfriend was definitely not awake. He supposed to be up bright and early the next day to leave for Japan but he couldn't sleep because he was debating over telling Nonna about the whole situation.

The past few days were spent running errands for her because Gokudera had nothing for him to do. His older brothers had apparently finished all their work in that week he was gone. It was so much more boring when it was just them in the mansion.

Marco, one of the maids' son was also stuck doing errands with him. Marco loved to play football and if Yamamoto and Ryohei were around they would have a friendly match when they were free. Unfortunately, the two of them were prohibited to play football as his mother had requested for the guardian to help the boy with his homework. Marco was close to failing a few subjects because he had spent most of his time training with the football team in school. The 12 year old was very hardworking and Lambo was surprised by how mature he was compared to him. He was determined to pick his grades up and graciously accepted the football ban from his mother without complaint. Lambo would have sulked all the way if he was faced with a similar situation.

Lambo told Marco about Akira but left out the part about the senior being his boyfriend. He told the boy about the new friend he had made and how he was the captain of the football team at his school. The boy hung on to his every word as Lambo explained how his boyfriend lead the Namimori high school football team into victory during a match just weeks before the summer holidays had started.

He was so proud of his boyfriend when he scored the winning goal. He had brought him back to the Sawada Household and even invited Akira's older sister to the house so they could have a celebratory dinner together. They lived with their father but the man was always travelling overseas for business and when Nana heard that, she had insisted they come over and she packed food for the two siblings pretty often. He was so happy that Nana had come to accept Akira as well as the rest of the family. Lambo could tell Shamal was still in a bit of a shock but he didn't care if any of them were uncomfortable. He wasn't going to hide his boyfriend and their relationship like it was something wrong. The liberation he felt after that barbeque party was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He didn't have to hide a part of himself from his family and that was a huge relief.

With his birth family however, Aunt Ottavia was still avoiding him even after a week had passed. The stubbornness ran in his family so he was well prepared to be ignored for a few months. He didn't want the same thing to happen with Nonna so he wanted to ask his boyfriend for advice but the senior was of no help, considering how he wouldn't even reply to his texts that day.

I-Pin told him to just do it, as he did with the Sawadas and the rest. He didn't mean to out himself to a large group of people, they had just happened to be present and Akira had told him to fuck it and just go along with it. After deliberating over the matter for three hours, Lambo finally made a decision and he prayed to whatever higher being listening that Nonna would be kind with her words. He cannot deal with another important person in his life giving him the cold shoulder. Plus, he really wanted to bring home some meatballs.

* * *

The morning after saw him yawning every five minutes at the dining table. Lambo managed to get four solid hours of sleep before he was rudely awakened by the alarm going off. Despite being a bundle of nerves, he was also too tired to fret over it but could still feel a bit nervous as he walked into the kitchen to collect his meatballs. He could smell the lemon scented dish washing soap before he even reached the kitchen. Nonna was humming an old song and washing up the dishes in the sink. She took notice of him as soon as he entered the kitchen and reminded him to freeze the meatballs and consume them within a month, as she had done so for the past few years. Lambo thanked her and helped her to dry the dishes, the same old routine. Only this time he was about to drop a metaphorical bomb and he wanted to make sure she wasn't handling anything fragile as he did so.

When they were done with the dishes, he had gently tugged the confused little old lady to the stools and sat her down. He dragged a stool to sit next to her and took in several deep breaths while she questioned him about what he was up to.

He squared his shoulders and looked her eye, "Nonna, I have something to tell you and you have to promise me that you won't treat me any differently after that."

Her brows knitted together, "Did you do anything illegal?" she inquired sternly.

He snorted, "No, no," he shook his head.

Nonna urged to him to just spit it out and he mentally braced himself to be chased around with a wooden spoon.

"I, er, found someone I really like," he said, "And that person is, um," he paused to swallow the lump in his throat, "A boy," he whispered.

"And?"

Lambo raised his eyebrows, he wasn't expecting that question.

"That's it?"

He nodded, stunned by how unbothered she was.

" _Polpetto_ ," she sighed, "Nonna is not stupid. When you were telling Marco about your new friend I could see your eyes shining and your voice was so fond," she smiled knowingly.

Did he sound like some lovestruck fanboy or something?

"Your boyfriend is very handsome," she smirked.

Lambo felt a warmth creeping up his neck and he bit his lip as he grinned, he knew Akira was attractive, in fact, he was hot.

"So you don't think I'm abnormal?" he blurted out.

The little old lady tsked a few times and shook her head, "Of course not, nobody can help who they fall in love with. It doesn't matter to me who you love or what you are," her eyes crinkled as she smiled, the same one he remembered from his childhood.

Lambo felt tears welling up in his eyes and he shot forward to wrap his arms around her and cry onto her shoulder. She laughed and called him silly for crying and for being so scared to tell her.

" _Zietta_ thinks it's immoral," he said in between sobs.

She pushed him back and wiped his tears, "People normally fear or reject ideas they don't understand. You've always told Nonna that your _Zietta_ wants you to marry and have kids and in her mind, being with a woman is the only way to do that. Times have changed and there are many ways to have children but you don't want any, right?

"Nonna too wishes to see you have a family of your own but you can have a family even without blood relations. One person can also feel like home and I know people who have fulfilling relationships even without children."

Like Ryohei and Hana, his mind supplied. Hana had been very vocal about her dislike towards children and he knows the Sun guardian would never pressure her into having a child despite his parents constantly asking them about their plans have one. They had started pushing for Tsuna and Kyoko to get married once they figured out it was futile to ask Hana to bear them a grandchild.

"Your _Zietta_ loves you very much Lambo. Her anger will eventually subside and when that happens, talk to her patiently, okay?"

The guardian nodded, " _Grazie, Nonnina. Ti voglio bene_ ," he smiled as wide as he could, grateful for her love and wisdom.

" _Ti voglio bene, Polpetto_ ," she kissed the top his forehead and hugged him one last time before chasing him out so she could start mopping the floor in peace.

* * *

"Lambo! Akira-kun is here!" he heard Nana calling out to him.

His ears perked up and he leapt out of bed, nearly tripping over his blanket on the way to the door. Fuuta laughed at him, but he ignored his older brother, he was really happy that his boyfriend had come to see him. They had touched down just a few hours ago and he was dead exhausted from the plane ride despite sleeping on the journey.

He stopped just before the stairwell to calm himself down and take in a few deep breaths. He was still a bit miffed about being ignored for almost two days. He schooled his features into a neutral expression and casually made his way down the stairs. He could hear Nana and Akira talking in the living room along with the rest of the family. They were watching a game show on television judging by the sounds of fake audience laughter.

"Hi, babe," Akira grinned.

Lambo felt the corner of his mouth twitching upwards in response. He mentally slapped himself for being so easily charmed by his boyfriend's smile. He crossed his arms and raised an inquiring eyebrow instead.

The senior turned to Nana, "Sawada-san, is it alright if I walk with Lambo for a bit?"

She nodded but it was Tsuna who told Lambo to be back by 11.30p.m. They had work to do the next day at the Vongola Headquarters so he didn't want him to stay out too late.

Once they were outside, Akira grasped his pinky and interlaced their fingers. His hands were warm and the guardian gripped his hand back, swinging it slightly. His boyfriend laughed and he played along by swinging their arms harder. There was a reason he couldn't stay mad at Akira for long. The senior had a playful personality and being with him always lifted up his spirits. They strolled in silence for a while until they reached the park bench a few streets behind the Sawada Household.

"Sorry I didn't text you back. I had a massive hangover and my dad came back home from his business trip and urgh, it's all fucked up," he groaned, throwing his head back.

"Wanna talk about it?" Lambo tentatively offered.

Akira had issues with his father and they often clashed if left alone together for too long. From what Lambo had heard, the man was very business orientated and his dedication was what brought about the success he had accomplished in the present day. According to the media, his father's frequent absences and prioritizing work over family was what drove his mother to file for divorce 10 years ago. The custody of him and his sister were equal but once his mother met someone else, the two siblings made the decision to live in their father's house a year later. Whatever knowledge he has on Akira's family was only because of tabloids and the internet. His boyfriend never liked to discuss his family problems that much and he knew it was a very touchy subject.

"Nah, it's stupid. By the way, how'd it go with Nonna?" he asked.

"Great, actually," he smiled, Akira's pronunciation still needed a lot of work.

"Awesome! Don't sweat it over your aunt, babe. My mom still doesn't get it either and Dad doesn't care but whatever," he rolled his eyes.

Lambo leaned his head onto his boyfriend's shoulder, he gently took Akira's hand to his lips and kissed it ever so gingerly.

"Your mom cares for you, and your dad too," he said softly.

Akira scoffed, claiming he had a hard time believing that, "My Nee-chan is probably the only one who cares."

Lambo sat upright and tsked, "You have me and Chen too."

The senior laughed and grabbed Lambo's cheeks to plant a smooch on his lips. Lambo looked into his eyes and saw them twinkling with mischief. He smiled and slid his hand up the back of his boyfriend's head to reel him in for a kiss. Akira tasted like the cool mint candy they had earlier and the scent of him filled his senses, making him dizzy. The guardian pulled back, panting slightly from being out of breath.

"You know I care about you right?" he asked.

He wanted to make sure the senior knew that he would be there for him and that he shouldn't hesitate to share his troubles with him.

Akira cupped his cheek and caressed it with his thumb, "Yeah," he whispered, but it sounded like he wasn't convinced.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's the end of Chapter 2~ I mostly relied on Google for the Italian words so if you spot any mistakes let me know~

Ciao - Hello

Signore/Signori - Sir/Sirs

Caro - Dear (masculine)

Zietta - Aunt

Polpetto - Meatball (Term of endearment)

Nonno - Grandfather, Nonna - Grandmother, Nonnina - Little grandma, Granny

Ti voglio bene - I love you (used between close friends and family)

Grazie - Thank you

Last month was Pride month and I had an interesting conversation with my mother which prompted me to write Aunt Ottavia this way. The way I see it, they're aware of LGBTQ+ people but never expected someone they know to be one so they are thrown off guard and thus react negatively. These people have views and opinions that have stuck with them for years. My advise is to listen to what they have to say and respect their views. It'll take a while (maybe years) for them to see it your way, only if they're willing to open their minds. Hostility will only beget hostility so be kind and patient. Everyone reacts differently so I can't speak for a lot of people. If you can, talk to an ally or someone in the community, it helps to know there are people who understand you.

(Lambo just went full on defensive mode, which is normal but it also upset Aunt Ottavia and neither reached a peaceful compromise.)

Let me know what you think, I hope you guys liked the chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Lambo, Age 17, October**

September passed and the air grew chillier as Nana teared a page off the calendar to reveal the month of October. Members of the Sawada Household were all seated at the dining table for breakfast and Tsuna could tell his two youngest sibilings were not looking forward to their first day back at school. I-Pin was quietly eating her cereal, and the dark circles underneath her eyes indicated lack of sleep. Lambo was just staring into his empty bowl like it offended his great ancestors. Summer vacation withdrawals were really unpleasant and Tsuna was glad he didn't have to experience that anymore. On the other hand, mafia activities didn't stop just because it was the summer so he still had to work no matter what.

October was also a month of celebration in the household because of Tsuna's and Reborn's birthday coming up in less than two weeks. It wasn't much of a birthday party but more of an excuse for people to come over, mingle, and eat free food. He knew that Reborn would secretly chip in some money for the expenses to help Nana and Tsuna did the same once he started to earn his own salary.

"Lambo, make sure you invite Akira-kun, okay?"

"Sorry, Mama, I don't think he's free that day, " came the flat reply.

His mother was clearly disappointed by the sound of that, "That's too bad, it's been a long time since we've seen him. How's he doing?"

Lambo gave a vague answer about the senior being really busy and abruptly changed the subject. And that was just one of the many occasions where Tsuna noticed the lightning guardian avoiding the topic whenever his boyfriend was brought up. The replies were always the same or just a variation of 'He's busy'. Joining in for family dinners was one thing, but Akira even stopped coming over after school just to hang out with Lambo. Did they have a fight?

Over the past few weeks, Tsuna would often see his younger brother ignoring incoming calls and becoming moody after receiving them. At times, he would hear Lambo talking furiously over the phone or come home looking very irritated. For a normally calm and laid back teenager, the recent change in behaviour was really odd.

Tsuna knew he wouldn't be getting any semblance of a proper answer from Lambo so he decided turn to the next best person; I-Pin. Ever since they were kids, I-Pin and Lambo had a bond that ran deeper than friendship. Since they were closer in age compared to the rest of their mismatched family, they often had their own secrets and inside jokes that nobody else understood, except for Fuuta and sometimes Fran. If there was anything going on with Lambo, I-Pin would know.

Now all Tsuna had to do was to find a way to meet I-Pin alone and without the lightning guardian.

* * *

Tsuna was leaning against the wall across the street from the ramen shop where his younger sister worked at. He tried standing outside the shop itself but somehow became a doorman for the customers. He took the chance to leave his spot after holding the door for a group of middle aged aunties who didn't even bother to thank him when he held open the door for them.

The time was 7.37pm, the bell dinged as the door opened, prompting Tsuna to look up from his watch. I-Pin stepped out and immediately took notice of him, eyeing him curiously as she crossed the road.

"Tusna-nii, what are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighbourhood and thought why not walk home together with you."

"Reborn-san and the rest aren't with you?" he heard a slight doubt in her voice.

"Nope, just me," his lips quirked up in to a small smile, "Don't you want to walk home with your Tsuna-nii?"

I-Pin shook her head, "No, it's nice. Walking home with someone is always nice," she grinned.

The streets glowed orange as the sun was slowly setting. The two of them talked about their day as they walked down the sidewalk. Tsuna asked his younger sister about how their first week at school went. She gave him a weary sigh as she recounted how their teachers wasted no time in giving them homework after homework. The teachers were already preparing the students for their third year and group projects were assigned in hopes of raising their grades. I-Pin, however, thought that the group projects were a complete waste of time.

As someone who benefitted from those group projects, Tsuna just smiled. I-Pin was smart and hardworking so he knew why she felt that way. His younger sister's efforts always paid off and her grades were spectacular and he couldn't be more proud. He couldn't say the same for Lambo because his grades were always average. The subjects Lambo did well in were the humanities which was surprising because the Bovino _famiglia_ excelled at maths and science. He tried talking to him about his future plans but gave up because Lambo would end up avoiding the subject. Technically, the guardian didn't need a degree because Tsuna and his other guardians didn't pursue any higher education when they took over from the Ninth. However, he knew that Lambo's aunt wanted him to further his studies so he encouraged Lambo to study. The young guardian said he would but he wasn't actively researching about the universities in Japan or what course to take.

"I think the group projects will help people like Lambo," he said.

"But Lambo's smart, he doesn't need the extra boost. He's just lazy to sit down and study."

Tsuna chuckled, "That he is."

There was a lapse in their conversation and the two of them strolled together in companionable silence. A few motorcycles whizzed past them as they waited at the traffic light. The brunet thought about a way to bring up his younger brother again but he didn't have to because I-pin was anything but slow to catch on.

"If this is about how weird he's been acting lately, I can't tell you. He asked me to keep it a secret."

Tsuna frowned, "But if it's anything serious-"

"Don't worry, Tsuna-nii. When he's ready, he'll tell you."

And that was the end of the discussion and they crossed the street. I-Pin then dragged him to a bakery where a friend of hers worked at and Tsuna ended up buying a lot bread and pastries to bring home to share. The boy, Chen, was apparently Akira's friend and he gave off a vibe that vaguely reminded him of Hibari. And oddly enough, he later learnt that the teen was the head of the disciplinary committee which explained a whole lot. He quite liked Chen because unlike Hibari, the teen was friendly and not completely hostile. He wondered if I-Pin had a little crush on him too because she was all smiles and was really shy around him. If she did, he was rooting for them to be a couple.

As they continued on their route back home, Tsuna realised that the talk with I-Pin only served to worry him even more and he didn't get any answers. However, he decided to respect the teen's decision and not push the matter further.

* * *

The tipping point came one Wednesday afternoon during their weekly training sessions held at the Vongola Headquarters in Japan. Tsuna and Gokudera were the last to arrive as they had to take care of business with a mafia representative. The main pairs on the floor were Colonello and Ryohei and Reborn and Yamamoto who were sparring relentlessly. It was never a friendly match with the four of them. Lal Mirch stood off the side, observing them and giving pointers.

A lone figure was sitting at the corner of the room looking bored and restless. Tsuna thought it was strange that Skull was present but he knew that the four former Arcobalenos met up pretty often. They kept a tight friendship despite the curse being broken. If he could even call it a friendship, they probably bonded over insulting Skull. He didn't expect him to come to their training session and wondered why he decided to come.

There was still one person missing though…

"Gokudera-kun, any idea where Lambo might be?"

Unexpectedly, it was the purpled haired teen that answered, "If ya lookin' for the Pretty Boy, he texted sayin' he'll be late."

Gokudera turned to him, "Huh? Why would that Stupid Cow text you?"

Skull loosely shrugged his shoulders, "Why not?"

Tsuna thanked Skull, and he couldn't help but echo Gokudera's question in his head. Since when were Skull and Lambo even on texting terms?

30 minutes later and there was still no sign of the young lightning guardian. Tsuna was starting to feel a bit worried and wondered if he had run into some trouble. Lambo had skipped out on trainings the past few months but he usually informed them beforehand. Tardiness was an issue but he was never more than an hour late. He really needed to sit down and talk to the guardian about missing these training sessions because he wasn't getting enough practice for the past few months.

Lambo busted in ten minutes later, distractedly muttering apologies and panting really hard. His face was flushed and sweat dotted his forehead, he probably ran all the way here from the entrance. Tsuna could see his right hand man getting ready to scold the teen so he rested his hand on the man's shoulder to stop him.

"Why don't you go warm up first. You can take over my place with Gokudera-kun," the brunet suggested.

The teen nodded and hurriedly made his way to where Skull was sitting to put his things down.

"But 10th-"

Tsuna shook his head slowly. He glanced at the corner of the room to find Skull looking expectantly at Lambo, asking him about something. The latter simply looked resigned while replying and Skull patted his shoulder to comfort him. It was definitely weird to see them interacting so casually. When did they become friends?

The lightning guardian jogged over to where they were sparring and Tsuna called a timeout. He briefly explained that they would be working on Lambo's defence and he was to block Gokudera's advances as well as throw in a few moves of his own. The lightning guardian had been training with Fon and I-Pin for a while now and there had been improvements in his skills. Very minute improvements but it was still something.

"With flames or nah?"

"No, pure physical defence."

The teen grimaced, "Again? Why do we always work on physical stuff? I mean zapping someone is way more effective. If you get physical with them, you're only exerting yourself and-"

"Stop your whining and listen to the 10th," Gokudera interjected sharply.

Lambo blinked, a bit taken aback. He apologized and kept quiet after that. Tsuna silently thanked his storm guardian for cutting the teen off because the boy could go on and on. He was only making excuses as he didn't want to fight with his fists and because he was bad at it.

The storm and lightning guardians got off to a strong start. Lambo was effectively blocking Gokudera's attacks but it wasn't long before the teen got careless with his movements. At first it was small mistakes and clumsy footing but as Gokudera increased the intensity of his attacks, the young guardian could not counter them as well as before. After a particularly strong blow, Lambo was down on the mat, panting heavily. The storm guardian, on other hand, was barely breaking a sweat.

Gokudera frowned at the teen, "Oi, what are you doing? We went over these moves last week."

Lambo got up to his feet, "Sorry, let's try again."

The second attempt was not any better than the first nor was the third. The silver haired man, infamous for his short temper, was getting increasingly frustrated with his opponent. Once again, Lambo got knocked down to the mat for the fourth time, that was the last straw for the storm guardian.

" _Che cazzo_ , Lambo!" he shouted.

Uh oh, Gokudera usually reverted back to Italian when he was really angry. The sound of him blowing his fuse was enough to halt the others from their own personal training. They turned to look at the two flame brothers.

"Are you even fighting me seriously, you stupid cow?!"

"Gokudera-kun, calm down-"

"You're too lenient with him 10th. Since February he's either been late or skipping practices and giving us lame ass excuses. It's high time we set him straight!"

Before the Vongola boss could intervene, his tutor decided to speak up in the storm guardian's favour.

"Gokudera is right. That brat's been fooling around and you're letting him off too easy."

Lambo, visibly upset, jumped to his own defence, "What? No! I haven't-"

"Don't deny it, Stupid cow. You've been goofing off with that boy for the past 5 months or so," he retorted.

The teen shook his head denying the allegations that was placed upon him but he didn't get a chance to speak before Reborn talked over him.

"Obviously some fling takes more priority than his actual duties as a Vongola guardian."

The guardian scoffed, "You always talk like you know everything, don't you?" he chuckled without mirth.

Lambo raised his head to look the strongest hitman in the eye, " _Vaffanculo_ ," the vulgarity was punctuated with an obscene gesture and tight smile before the teen spun around and stormed out of the facility.

Involuntary gasps escaped some of their mouths, including Tsuna's. He couldn't believe his younger brother actually did that, he knew not to throw that cuss word around as it was very insulting.

Gokudera glanced between the door and the group, "That rude little shit! How could he speak that way to Reborn-san?"

Yamamoto spoke up, "Maybe you guys provoked him too much?" the rain guardian turned to the brunet, "But Tsuna, Lambo's been acting weird."

"Yeah, Sawada," Ryohei agreed, "He's always angry lately."

At that point, some of the lights in the training facility started to flicker, implying that a certain someone's lightning flames were messing with the electrical circuit. Lambo was royally pissed that's for sure but Tsuna didn't know why he was so worked up. There was some truth to what his tutor was saying. Reborn might have been a little harsh but it didn't call for such a strong reaction. The little distraction almost allowed a purple haired teen to sneak out without anyone noticing but unfortunately for him, Colonello had eyes like a hawk.

"Oi, Skull. You know something don't you, _kora_?"

Bullseye. All heads turned to the former Arcobaleno in question.

Fidgeting a little, Skull immediately sputtered out, "Nah, why would ya think that," he gave a fake little laugh, "Eh, I have to go now. See ya!"

Before he could exit the facility, Tsuna called out to him, "If you know something, anything at all, it might really help us to understand."

Skull was hesitant to say anything, stating that it might be best to hear it directly from the young guardian himself. Colonello narrowed his eyes at the teen and threatened to plant three bullet's in Skull's brain if he did not start talking.

"Alright, alright, I will tell ya, sheesh!" he looked towards the door apologetically, mumbling something Tsuna couldn't quite catch.

* * *

"You did what?!"

"I know! I will definitely die by Reborn's hands when they come back home."

"If Hayato-nii doesn't kill you first!" I-Pin squeaked, exasperated by her best friend's reckless behaviour.

After the whole commotion at the training facility, the lightning guardian went straight home to find his best friend. She was one of the two people that had been helping him get through shit the past month. The other one was probably being interrogated by Tsuna and the other guardians. Their unlikely friendship did not go unnoticed and he mentally apologized to the former Cloud Arcobaleno for having to clear up his mess.

"Maybe I should consider booking the first flight back to Italy?"

Instead of replying, she smacked his head.

"Ow, have mercy. I got thoroughly beat up by Gokudera-shi today. Look at all my bruises," the black haired teen rubbed the aching spot on his head and extended his arm out for his friend to see.

I-Pin rolled her eyes, "Deal with it. Now spill, what did that jerk want with you after school?"

* * *

The number one question on everyone's minds was about the recent friendship between Skull and Lambo.

"He likes to party, I like to party, we sometimes meet at, um, parties."

"What would you be doing at high school kids' parties, _kora_?"

"Er, well-"

"You guys cross paths at the clubs right?" Yamamoto guessed.

Tsuna was shocked, the legal age for clubbing was at least 18 and Lambo was only 17!

The brunet turned to the purple haired teen, "Wait, how are _you_ allowed to enter clubs?"

The Arcobaleno were fully grown adults trapped in adolescent bodies. Did no one bat an eye at how easily teens were able to enter clubs? He knew some establishments don't even bother checking IDs before selling alcohol to their customers. Compared to his age group, Lambo was more mature looking thanks to his features so it probably didn't warrant the need to check if he was a minor. He hoped his younger brother didn't drink because it was also illegal for him to do so. Another reason to sit him down for a little man to man talk.

"Oh, please," Skull scoffed, "With connections like mine I can enter the fuckin' White House if I wanted to," he boasted with his nose up in the air.

"Isn't the White House already open to the public for tours, _kora_?"

That got him off his high horse. The teen stuttered a bit before changing the subject. He brought up the time he mentioned that Akira looked familiar to him.

"I've seen him at the clubs a lot. He's always gettin' drunk and dancin' with random men."

Yamamoto commented that maybe the senior was just having a little fun as alcohol tended to lower one's inhibitions. There was nothing wrong with partying.

Skull smiled, "When I say dancin', I actually mean grindin' and makin' out," he paused, "And doin' other kind of stuff, if ya know what I mean."

Tsuna grimaced, he didn't need that much information.

"I mean he has the typical fuckboy hair," he went on, "Till this day I wonder how he managed to stick with Lambo for so long," the teen mused.

What did 'Fuckboy hair' even mean? Tsuna thought Akira's hairstyle was pretty flattering. The undercut seemed to be a trend among the youths. He himself might not see the appeal of shaving off half his hair but it looked good on some people.

Tsuna noted the use of past tense and commented on it, "When you say 'managed'...?"

The teen came out with the truth, Akira and Lambo had broken up over a month ago which explained the moody behaviour of the lightning guardian over the past few weeks. Gokudera pointed out that it was still no excuse for him to act so disrespectful.

Tsuna glanced at the fedora wearing hitman who was pointedly not looking at Skull, or anyone else for that matter. He was just staring straight ahead, facial expression unreadable. He could only hope that his tutor was not too offended by Lambo's careless words.

"So they broke up and Lambo is sad? That's a damn lame excuse if you ask me. All this drama is due to teenage angst?"

"Now, now, Gokudera. Akira is Lambo's first boyfriend, you know. He even brought him home to meet us."

"Shut up, baseball idiot. You're too lenient just like the 10th."

While his rain and storm guardians began to argue, or rather, as Gokudera continued to rant in the background, Tsuna decided to ask one last question, "What happened today before Lambo showed up for training?"

The former Cloud Arcobaleno had no clue but he could guess, "That bastard's been pestering Lambo to get back together."

"After extremely breaking up with Lambo?!"

"Oh, no. Lambo was the one who broke up with that fucker. Damn, he pisses me off," he muttered under his breath.

"Why?"

Skull shrugged the question off and commented that it was just his face that pissed him off. Tsuna could sense that he was not telling them everything but he decided not to pry anymore information out of the Cloud Arcobaleno and ask his own guardian directly.

* * *

"The next time he orders ramen, I'm gonna slip some laxatives so he'll get explosive diarrhea for days!" I-Pin's cheeks were puffed out and her face was turning red in anger.

Lambo thought it made quite the adorable picture and he ended up laughing.

"Don't laugh! You're being too soft with that jerk!"

"Honestly, I am so tired of being angry," he chuckled, "Look where it got me? I'm so prepared to die a slow and painful death at the hands of the strongest hitman alive."

Nana called them down for dinner and Lambo froze at the sight of the hitman and his older brother who were already seated at the table. Next to him, I-Pin took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. His older brother looked up and smiled reassuringly, beckoning him to come sit at the table. The two of them took their seats and Lambo glanced at the hitman, trying to read his expression. Their eyes met and the guardian promptly looked away, embarrassed that he was caught staring.

Lambo thanked his lucky stars because all throughout dinner, the topic of Reborn and Tsuna's birthday party had been discussed and nothing about him or Akira. He was starting to run out of excuses to explain why Akira couldn't come to the party. Nana loved his ex boyfriend and he didn't know how to tell her that they have broken up. Which reminded him, he needed to go shopping for presents soon, that is if he lived long enough to attend the party. Reborn had been awfully quiet the past hour and the young guardian wondered if the hitman was mentally plotting an elaborate way to punish him. Their prank wars had come to a temporary truce but that didn't mean it couldn't be revived.

After dinner, Lambo and I-Pin excused themselves claiming they had homework to do while the adults stayed behind to watch TV. There was a lot of work to do and Lambo groaned when his sister suggested they do science first. An hour into the respiratory system, there was a knock on the door.

"Lambo, I-Pin, is it alright if we come in?" it was Tsuna's voice.

"Is this where I die?" the teen stage whispered to his best friend.

Rolling her eyes, I-Pin opened the door, "If you want to talk to him alone, I can leave."

Lambo temporarily panicked as he definitely did not want to face the two of them by himself. Fortunately for him, his Nii-chan knew how anxious he was feeling and let I-Pin stay. The guardian decided that he will be nice and forgo a gag gift for his brother this year and splurge a little bit more for his present.

For now, he better start apologizing before he became permanently incapacitated by mysterious means. He peeked in the hitman's direction to find that Reborn's eyes were fixed on him. It was much harder when he had the complete attention of the hitman and when he looked so serious. He couldn't tell if Reborn was ticked off or not. He was probably urged by Tsuna to come up to I-Pin's room so they could talk it out while his older brother played the mediator.

He took a deep breath, "So, Skull texted me saying that he explained some stuff to you. I was rude and I took my anger out on you guys, a shitty thing to do, by the way. Gokudera-shi made me realize how irresponsible I've been the past few months and I'm really sorry," he bowed his head down a little.

It was a slap in the face to hear Reborn call Akira a fling because it reminded him Aunt and how she was utterly repulsed with him. To make matters worse, she still refused to answer any of his phone calls or respond to his messages. He was actually having a good day but Akira had to go ruin it by showing up just as he was about to leave for training. Lambo knew he would have snapped sooner or later but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

His older brother spoke up, "You're forgiven as long as you make up for the trainings with Gokudera-kun in the future."

The teen nodded vigorously, he had a lot of free time now that he wasn't going out with his friends and Akira every other day. I-Pin was also nagging at him to study with her at least once a week.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking," the brunet trailed off, "I mean, Skull told us how Akira's been bothering you lately. If it gets too much I can-"

"No! I mean it's quite alright, Tsuna-nii. I can handle him on my own."

The brunet hummed in agreement, "It's normal for an ex to pester you if he's still grieving from the break up so I reckon it'll be a while till he gets back to normal."

Did his older brother read up articles about break ups on the way here? He swore he read the exact same thing somewhere on the internet before.

I-Pin muttered something under her breath and Lambo frowned at her.

"Something to say, I-Pin?" Tsuna asked.

"No, she doesn't-"

That earned him a stern look from his older brother and the guardian bit his tongue to refrain from saying anything else.

"He wants to get back with Lambo because they haven't done it yet," his sister said flatly.

Lambo's jaw dropped, "Oi-"

"It's true!" I-Pin interjected, "From what I've heard you're the only one who refused to sleep with him despite being together for so long!"

* * *

As his younger siblings continued to argue, the gobsmacked Vongola boss could not believe what he was hearing. Sure he had the birds and bees talk with his younger brother but for a blushing virgin like him who only confessed to the girl he liked nearly a decade after, sex had always been an embarrassing topic for the brunet.

"Well of course not! Relationships shouldn't be all about sex right?"

Tsuna mentally gave kudos to his younger brother for being a gentlemen. Not all teenage boys felt the same way.

I-Pin huffed, "I'm not saying it should be I'm just saying that he only wants you back for that and you shouldn't pay any attention to him."

"I'm not!"

"Are too! You keep meeting him after school!"

"Only because he keeps asking!"

"And you're the idiot who agrees to!"

Tsuna awkwardly cleared his throat, he better put an end to their squabble before they got even more carried away.

"I don't know the circumstances of your breakup but I can only tell you that overcoming adversities makes a relationship grow stronger. It's not nice to assume anything, you might want to talk to Akira properly and let him know that the relationship is over if it's not salvageable," he advised

Tsuna was not an idiot, he had consulted the interwebs to understand what his younger brother was going through. One writer compared it the five stages of grieving and even gave tips on how to handle a clingy ex.

"I don't think it can be salvaged, Tsuna-nii," Lambo smiled sadly.

Tsuna knew that no amount of apologies can ever undo the damage sometimes. He might be a very forgiving person but Lambo wasn't like that. The lightning guardian's emotions ran wild and he felt them very strongly. For the past month, he was heartbroken, angry and it didn't help that he was being pestered by that one person who made him feel that way. Lambo didn't seem to be on talking terms with his aunt either nor has he discussed it with Tsuna. His little brother used to come running to him or Nana whenever he got a boo-boo or was upset. It was so surreal to see him bottling up his problems and actually hiding it from them. He had to remind himself that Lambo was a teenager and not some kid who needed to be coddled and fed every two hours.

For now, he didn't like that glum look on younger brother's face and wanted to undo it.

"I personally think you're too young to engage in, um, sex," he began, "And I hope that when you eventually want to _do it_ with someone, you will use," he paused for just a bit, "Condoms," he coughed out.

"Oh my god, Tsuna-nii!"

The teen was beyond mortified, jaw dropping to floor. I-Pin, on the other hand, was doubling over in hysterical laughter. Even Reborn was amused, judging by the smirk on his face. And just like that, the events from that afternoon was long forgotten as they ended their day on a lighter note.

* * *

 **A/N:** Lemme spice up your vocabulary with Italian cuss words: Che cazzo - What the fuck, Vaffanculo - Fuck you (It's very insulting, not something to throw around lightly!)

Why did they break up? Tune in to the next chapter to find out~


	4. Chapter 4

**Lambo, Age 17, October**

A few days later, news of Lambo's breakup had spread to Haru and Kyoko and they decided to drop by the Sawada Household to see how he was doing. They came knocking on the door just an hour after he had returned home from school.

The guardian opened the door and smiled lazily at the two older women, " _Yare yare_ , I cannot break up without everyone finding out about it can I?"

Thankfully, Nana had gone out with her friends for tea time and that saved him from a very awkward situation. He just didn't know how to tell her that Akira and him weren't an item anymore. The only way Haru and Kyoko knew was probably because of Tsuna. His older brother must have let it slip to his girlfriend. It didn't really come as a surprise because he anticipated it.

Haru pouted, "We're really worried about you, _desu_!" she quickly waddled into the house and relaxed onto the sofa, letting out a huge breath as she patted her round belly.

Lambo wondered how she could carry all that weight when she was so petite in size. Haru had a condition known as polyhydramnios which basically meant that she had a lot of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The reason why her tummy was so massive was because her body had to produce a lot of fluid to keep her baby nice and snug. Haru was very heavily pregnant but she still insisted on being active and going out as much as she could before her baby was due. Even though she was about to pop any moment, she still chose to make the trip down to the Sawada Household just to see how Lambo was doing.

Kyoko held up a white box in her hand, "We bought some cake to cheer you up!" she grinned.

He had the best older sisters ever.

As Nana had taught him, he played the gracious host and put the kettle on the stove to make some tea while Haru and Kyoko made themselves comfortable on the sofa.

He brought the steaming hot mugs of tea over to the coffee table and sat cross-legged on the rug, "Alright, time to spill some tea," he winked.

* * *

A little while later, Tsuna and his tutor were barely through the front door when they heard Haru's outraged cry.

"What a jerk! Haru would totally kick the guy in the balls if he ever did that to me, _desu_!"

The brunette then launched into a tirade of angry rants about how unfair it was for Lambo and Akira was an outright douchebag.

"Now, now, Haru-chan," he could hear Kyoko trying to placate her friend.

"Oh, no, Haru is really angry! Tell me you gave him a piece of your mind," she harrumphed.

Now that piqued his interest, what could Akira have done to the guardian? It couldn't be good for a pregnant lady to be that upset. She was days away from her due date and could go into labour anytime soon. He could hear Kyoko coaching Haru through a breathing exercise. Tsuna had accidentally told his girlfriend about Lambo's situation when she had brought up Akira during one of their phone calls. In his defence, Tsuna was very sleepy that night and he wasn't exactly thinking straight, just focusing on the sound of her voice to help him drift off to sleep. When she commented that Lambo's boyfriend was absent all the time, he had blurted out that his younger brother and Akira were no longer together.

"Hey, Reborn," he whispered, "Why do you think Lambo didn't come to me about his problem? Am I not a reliable person to talk to? Do you think I'm being nosy if I want to find out why Akira and Lambo broke up?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question, Dame-Tsuna?"

"Huh? Is that a yes or a no- Hey, where are you going?"

"To my room, obviously."

With that, his tutor was gone and Tsuna was left staring out at the empty hallway. Reborn had a knack moving stealthily as demonstrated by how he managed to slip past the trio to go into the kitchen. Reborn had his own sound proof room down in the basement which was somehow even more ventilated than the entire house, thanks to Giannini.

As quietly as possible, Tsuna tiptoed up the stairs and headed to his room. He didn't want to eavesdrop on what was meant to be a private conversation. He plopped himself down onto his swivel chair and sighed. He took out his laptop from his bag, flexed his fingers and cracked his neck. He really needed help with drafting a letter to one of government officials in Italy but his tutor decided to abandon him on a whim. He fired a text off to Kyoko to let her know that he was back from the Vongola Headquarters and set to work. He could attempt to do a bit or risk getting his ass whooped by Reborn if he didn't at least try to write up a decent letter.

* * *

It had been a week since Lambo had last seen Akira. He reckoned it had everything to do with the third years being drilled by mocks tests and exams. His ex boyfriend was smart by default but even the top students were anxious about their final exams. Tsuna had pointed out that he was getting back to his normal laid back self. For one, it might be because Akira had stopped pestering him and he was busy helping Nana to plan for the Tsuna's and Reborn's birthday party. He was in a very happy mood because he loved parties and it was almost therapeutic to see a party he planned out coming to life. The process was stressful but the end result was very satisfying and he was now witnessing the fruits of his labour as their guests sat around the table and chit chatted with one another while eating. Tsuna was sitting in a corner with Kyoko, the two of them seemingly lost in their own world talking and laughing away. He smiled to himself as he watched them, his older brother finally got a well deserved break and he was free to spend it with Kyoko for all he wanted.

They had to cut the cake soon but Reborn was no where in sight and even after bombarding his phone with calls and texts messages, the hitman hadn't replied to anyone. Lambo had half a mind to ask Tsuna to just cut the cake without his tutor, although that would probably be a horrible thing to do because it was Reborn's birthday that day.

"Akira-kun! You made it! Come on in!"

Oh, great.

Just when Lambo thought he was free from all the ex boyfriend drama, the boy himself shows up to his house. He watched as Nana went up to the senior and led him inside the house. She turned to him and gestured for him to come over while Akira smirked at him from where he was standing. Those who knew of the breakup looked back and forth between the two ex boyfriends and Lambo could feel eyes on him as he made his way inside.

"Hey, babe," the older teen moved in to kiss Lambo on the cheek but the teen turned his face away.

"I saw him at the mall earlier this afternoon and invited him to come. Isn't it great that he could make it?" Nana grinned.

The star football player of Namimori High School flashed his winning smile at Nana, stating he would not miss her cooking for anything. Lambo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. That smile he was once enamoured with was now getting on his nerves and he was very tempted to wipe that smarmy look off his face.

"Well, Akira can't stay long that's for sure," he said instead.

"And that's why I packed some food for him to bring back home," chirped Nana.

"Can't say no to free food can I?" Nana and the senior shared a little laugh, the former being unaware of Lambo's growing annoyance.

"Lambo, why don't you walk your boyfriend out. He tells me you've been too busy to hang out with him."

Akira swung his arm around the teen's shoulders, "Yeah, babe, come on. Let's take a little walk."

If looks could kill, his ex boyfriend would definitely be six feet under with all the assortment of glares he was receiving as they made their way out.

Lambo glanced back at Tsuna who gave him a reassuring nod.

The two exes silently strolled along the path side by side. Lambo had gotten out of his seniors grip and kept a respectful distance away from him. It was just a few more minutes to the bus stop and they would be going their own separate ways. Nothing ever comes too easy because the brunet suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"Lambo, let's talk."

With a sigh, the black haired teen paused in his steps and turned around slowly, " _Yare yare_ , what now?"

"Come on, baby, you've been ignoring my calls and texts and the only time I ever get to meet you is after school."

"Have you ever considered the fact that I don't want to talk to you?" questioned the younger teen.

The answer was probably no, because his ex was now looking at him with a disappointed face. Lambo knew better than to fall for that. The senior can feign innocence for all he wanted to but the truth was clear as day.

"Just give me one more chance, babe. I was really drunk and I didn't know what I was doing."

"You know, that's the go to excuse most cheaters tell their significant other, right?"

"It really didn't mean anything!" the senior protested.

"Strike two." the teen mumbled under his breath.

He could feel his temper rising again. It was the same old excuses and he was getting tired of repeating himself over and over again. Lambo figured that he better leave before he blew a street lamp, or ten because of his temper.

"Your bus is coming soon. Just go. And stay away from my Mama."

As Lambo turned to leave, he felt a strong grip on his forearm. Some people just cannot take the hint, "Let go."

"No! You won't listen to me and keep jumping to conclusions-"

"I said, let me go."

"-all on your own! I keep coming back don't I? If I don't care why would I bother?"

"Seriously, Akira, let me go!"

Trying to wrestle his way out of an athlete's grip was proving to be way more difficult than he thought it would be. Perhaps, he should have paid more attention to Gokudera during physical training. Times like this he wished he was somewhere more deserted so he could zap the living daylights out of his ex. The asshole was still ranting and his raised voice was starting to draw the attention of a few passerby. A little shock probably wouldn't hurt, he thought. Except that seemed to aggravate the senior even more. Damn it, the grip on his arm was getting more painful as he struggled.

Time to crank up the voltage.

"Lambo-nii, is this big brother giving you any trouble?"

Just as he was about to become a human taser, a familiar voice stopped him. Did all that pent up electricity fry his brain over the years or did the strongest hitman in the world just call him _Lambo-nii_?

"Oh, it's Fedora Boy! Don't worry your little head, kiddo. I'm just talking to your big brother over here."

While the young guardian was still reeling in from the shock, Akira had used the opportunity to sneak his arm around the teen's waist and kept him firmly in place by his side.

"Mama wants him back so we can cut the cake," said Reborn.

"Oh, it's your birthday too, isn't it. Happy birthday, kid! I got no presents but I hope you grow up to be as handsome as your brother here. Looking at you now, you might already be popular with girls at school though," the senior winked at the former Arcobaleno.

Akira had no idea. The hitman was forever turning heads of teenage girls and getting compliments from all the aunties. It was pretty hilarious because the hitman was probably used to more mature lovers and if older women actually noticed him, they would coo instead. Of course he was treated differently by those who knew of his mafia status.

If Lambo thought Reborn was glaring before back when he first met Akira at the barbeque party, he was definitely staring daggers at the brunet now.

"Right, go on babe, I'll see you tomorrow," Akira planted a peck on Lambo's cheek and let go of the black haired teen. With a small wave and shit eating grin, the senior jogged to bus stop and was just in time to catch the bus.

The two of them were left standing on the sidewalk as the bus drove off. Lambo eventually came back to his senses and and the first thing he did was to rub his cheek, wiping the feeling of his ex's kiss away.

"Stupid Cow, when are you going to stop fooling around," what was phrased like a question came out as a statement as the tutor turned on his heel and stalked down the road.

"For your information, I wasn't fooling around," the guardian pouted, "Hey, wait up!"

Lambo had to jog a bit to keep up with the brisk pace of the hitman. He tried to thank the hitman but was met with stony silence. The only one who acknowledged his presence was the chameleon perched on top of Reborn's shoulder. He sulked at Leon who was facing him and the reptile stuck his tongue out as if to say 'I know'.

As the two of them rounded the corner of the street, Lambo was pretty surprised to see I-Pin and Skull jogging up to them.

"Lambo! We were about to come get you!"

"Eh, Reborn-senpai! What are you doing here?"

Lambo gathered his friends into a tight hug. As he was taller than the both of them it was quite comical to see the shorter teens trying to get out the his grip.

"Oi, Lambo!"

"Don't mess up my hair!" Skull complained.

The guardian snorted, "What difference does it make? You already have a bad case of helmet hair!"

"Let's go, Leon, before we are associated with a bunch of idiots," he heard Reborn say as he left the three of them and went ahead.

The teen smiled at Reborn's retreating back, to think he even thought of cutting the cake without the hitman and the birthday boy himself had come to Lambo's rescue.

When Lambo and his friends rejoined the party, he did receive some worried glances from his older sisters and brothers but he flashed a bright smile their way and two thumbs up. He did not want a silly little problem to put a damper on their mood on such a joyous occasion. With good food and great cake courtesy of Nana, Haru and Kyoko, the party guests left in good spirits as the celebrations came to an end.

* * *

The night was still young and it found Lambo and his two friends down at a fast food restaurant where they could discuss the latest incident involving The Ex Boyfriend™.

Skull slurped his drink and burped out loud, earning disgusted looks from I-Pin. Lambo knew his sister was pretty wary of Skull because of his associations with the Carcassa _famiglia_. Tsuna too had warned him not to get too close to him because of the drug dealing side business the Carcassa were engaged in. Lambo was also banned from going clubbing till he was officially 18 which sucked, but his 18th birthday was just seven months away. He was a tiny bit disappointed because he wouldn't get to see the purple haired teen as often. Their friendship progressed to the point of texting buddies where they mostly complain about Reborn or send each other stupid memes. Skull also liked to give him updates of Akira if he happened to spot him at the clubs or bars.

Even though I-Pin seemed to have warmed up to the idea of Lambo and the former Cloud Arcobaleno being friends, she wasn't particularly comfortable. The purple haired teen was too much of a wild child for her and twice as annoying as Lambo. He hoped they could get along because he was starting to grow fond of the younger teen and if his best friend in the whole wide world didn't like him, he wouldn't know what to do.

"isn't your skin immune to electricity? How did it get bruised from someone holding your arm?" I-Pin asked as she inspected his bruised arm.

The teen pouted his best friend, "I don't literally have thick skin okay. Verde tried to explain it but my brain switched off. Besides, it was a really painful grip, you know. I zapped him but he got angrier instead," the guardian explained.

"The fucker has serious anger issues," stated Skull.

I-Pin hummed in agreement, she insisted that Akira was getting more bold with actions and Lambo should just put an end to it. The young guardian claimed that it was easier said than done because he just couldn't seem to push his ex away but he didn't want him back either. Maybe some part of him wanted the senior back but he didn't know if he still had feelings for him or if he simply missed the idea of them being a couple. He had so much fun with Akira, the senior had opened up many doors to him and helped him to discover himself. He was bloody well attracted to the senior and that was beyond his control.

Damn, teenage hormones.

"That _stronzo_ does not deserve ya back! Unless ya do want him back and if that's the case, _che cavolo_!"

The non-Italian of the trio started giggling, "Did you just say 'what cabbage'?" .

"Don't mind him, l-Pin. He's really vulgar."

"Not as bad as you. After all that mess with Reborn-senpai, how the hell are ya still alive?"

Mentioning the former Sun Arcobaleno prompted the two to ask Lambo why he was walking back home with the hitman. They were baffled to hear that Reborn actually bothered to help Lambo and then wondered how he ended up near the bus stop in the first place. The teen had no idea why he was there but was grateful that Reborn had appeared.

"Maybe he decided to be nice cause it was his birthday," the guardian mused.

* * *

Back at home, while I-Pin went up to her room, Lambo decided to head to the kitchen instead. He had the habit of hanging out in the kitchen whenever he couldn't sleep. Even though it wasn't ideal to eat just before going to bed, he found that a warm cup of milk and a little snack usually helped whenever he was feeling restless. He rummaged the cupboards and loaded the toaster with the poptarts he found. While waiting, he sat by the dining table and stared out the window to watch the clouds go by. It wasn't long before his mind wandered back to the incident that happened earlier.

Tsuna used to describe Reborn as 'A wingless angel'. When Lambo was younger he used to think that Reborn and 'angel' in the same sentence was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard. 'More like the devil' he would counter back. His opinion of Reborn being a selfish, arrogant asshole was cemented since the day he met the hitman at the bar when he was five years old. The Bovino boss had told his five year old self about a super baby named Reborn. He sang praises and revered him with much respect. One day, Augusto had brought him along to one of his meetings with a promise of being able to meet this legendary Reborn. Lambo was determined to make the most powerful hitman in the world his friend but alas, the universe had very different plans and thus began the one sided rivalry between him and Reborn. When it came down to it, all Lambo wanted was the hitman to be his friend and even that seemed impossible even after 14 years.

The hitman never allowed anybody to get close to him except maybe Tsuna, but even the Vongola boss was sometimes kept at an arm's length.

The sound of the coffee machine starting up snapped Lambo back to reality. Speak of the devil and he appears. Standing with his back facing the guardian was Reborn himself.

"Oi, Reborn, what are you doing up?" he asked.

The hitman took his cup of coffee to the table and sat a few chairs away from the lightning guardian on the opposite side and scrolled through his phone.

"I'm making some poptarts to eat. Do you want some?"

More silence. Was it 'Ignore Lambo Day' or something?

"Listen, about today I just-"

"Save your breath, Stupid Cow. You should get your act together before you trouble Tsuna and the rest of the guardians."

Always straight to the point, Lambo thought.

Before the awkward silence took over again, Lambo decided to ask the hitman a question, "Hey, Reborn, what's the best way of getting rid of someone in your life besides the mafia way?"

The hitman slowly turned to look at him, "If I knew, you wouldn't be around right now," he deadpanned.

"Ouch," he exclaimed, in a mock-scandalized manner, "I just wanted a poptart and I am honestly feeling so attacked right now."

The teen felt a sense of accomplishment when Reborn sported a slightly amused smirk on his face. He couldn't help his own lips curling up into a smile. They didn't speak afterwards, with Reborn going back to using his phone. Lambo went back to staring out the window after he retrieved his poptarts from the toaster.

"If you're going to shake your leg, at least do it quietly."

Huh?

Oh, he hadn't even noticed. His rapid movements came to a halt. Now that he was consciously holding himself back from jiggling his leg, it seemed to put him on the edge even more. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, turned to the side and stretched them out, and even tried different positions to rest his legs comfortably.

"What," he heard the hitman say, "are you doing?"

He wish he knew as well, "Beats me, I'm trying to figure it out too."

He wondered if he could confide in the hitman in front of him. Reborn did good advice from time to time, so maybe he could help him out a little. The man had four girlfriends before, he was bound to know something useful.

"You probably don't care but since you helped me out tonight I guess I could tell you about some stuff."

The hitman's eyes shifted over to him, and Lambo took it as a signal to continue.

He started by telling the hitman about the incident that led to their breakup. They had gone out clubbing one night during the summer break when Lambo had ended work at the Vongola Headquarters. He actually didn't want to go but Akira insisted they go to relieve some stress. He happened to run into Skull and they had a little catch up session while Akira was off dancing with his friends. They had ended up discussing his cold war with Aunt Ottavia and that was when his boyfriend had staggered over to the where they were standing and kept urging Lambo to dance. He was clearly tipsy and high.

The one thing the teen learnt during his relationship was that his boyfriend really loved to party, especially if alcohol was involved. And when he did drink, he got more handsy and generous with public displays of affection.

"He was getting pretty touchy feely," the teen remembered the strong, pungent smell of alcohol in his boyfriend's breath.

"With Skull watching, I felt super embarrassed. I kept telling him to stop but he wouldn't listen. I accidentally used too much force to push him away and he stumbled backwards, almost losing his balance," Lambo could still picture the shock on his boyfriend's face slowly morphing into rage.

Lambo glanced at the hitman to see if he was still following what he was saying. Reborn was staring intently at him. The teen started to think that he had fallen asleep but then hitman blinked, indicating consciousness. The next part was difficult to say out loud because he couldn't believe it had happened either. His knee had started to bounce again.

"He started shouting at me about how his own boyfriend wouldn't kiss him and all," it was his first time witnessing Akira losing his temper.

He had heard the rumours here and there about the senior blowing his top off during football practice or friendly matches with other schools but never saw it for himself.

"I was scared shitless, okay, like who is this person was he possessed or something?"

They had started to attract a crowd and Lambo attempted to calm the senior down but the teen had aggressively shoved him off. He would have fell if Skull hadn't caught him. Akira must have realized what he had done because he suddenly looked remorseful.

"He was about to come back me, I was so sure of it but then this random fucker-" he cut himself off, already feeling the rush of emotions taking over.

He swallowed a lump in his throat, "I mean this random guy goes up to him and was all like 'I'd kiss you' and **my** boyfriend," Lambo pointed at himself, "starts making out with this complete stranger right in front of my very eyes.

"I was completely stunned and I couldn't bring myself to look away. People started catcalling and eventually Skull was the one who dragged me out." he let out a shaky breath.

It was all too much to remember and he closed his eyelids, willing himself to calm down. Just picturing it brought him back to that moment when he felt so betrayed and heartbroken.

"I remember squatting down and crying outside. I think one of Akira's friends came up to me but I was just too gone to give a fuck, you know.

So much for composure, the teen thought. A steady stream of tears was making their way down his face. He rubbed his eyes but it did not seem to stop the tears from flowing, "Just a while later," he sniffed, "I saw Akira and the stranger hail a cab and they left together."

The worst part of it all was that Akira had initiated the kiss and he clearly enjoyed it, moaning and feeling the guy up. He also denied sleeping with the guy but Lambo didn't buy it.

"Oi, get a grip before you cause a power outage."

Lambo looked directly above him to see the light had gone out. That was the fourth one the past month. It was a miracle Nana didn't question anyone about all the lightbulbs she had to replace. Something warm brushed against his hand and he felt something soft being slipped into his palm. Reborn had just given him a tissue. He wiped his face and blew his nose rather loudly. The guardian looked up and almost snickered at the sight of Reborn's disgusted face. Lambo knew he was not a pretty picture at that moment, with snot and tears.

The hitman spoke up after a brief moment of silence, "You like to avoid conflict and run crying as soon as something bad happens."

The guardian sulked, "You don't say," he grumbled under his breath.

He wanted relationship advice, not an analysis of his character and personality.

He was ignored as Reborn continued on, "He's getting impatient, he might turn violent and you should stop being a pushover. You have the balls to tell me to fuck off so tell that to him too."

The guardian blinked several times before he burst out laughing, "Are you going to remember that forever? You're so petty," he snorted.

"Lambo… And Reborn?"

That little episode with the light going out must have woken up his older brother. Tsuna had always been sensitive to the feelings of his guardians and their powers. Tsuna peered at at the two of them curiously as he drew near. It was a bit dark and probably a bit hard to see with just one light but his older brother managed to spot that he had been crying.

"What's going on? Why are you crying? Is everything alright? Reborn, you didn't bully Lambo did you?" Tsuna frowned at his tutor.

"Nothing of that sort. We were just talking," Lambo got up from his chair and and scooped his brother into a big hug, "Happy birthday, Tsuna-nii. I got a bomb ass present for you. Well, not bombs in a literal sense."

"Tch, I am going to bed. Good night."

"Hey, wait! _Tanti auguri_ to you too, Reborn!" Lambo called out after the retreating hitman.

He could tell Tsuna was still puzzled about the bizarre situation he woke up to. Luckily for him, his older brother didn't comment on it because he was too busy being embarrassed from being hugged for so long. And when he finally went up to his room, he laid wide awake on his bed and thought about the hitman's words. It was basically the same thing I-Pin and Skull had advised him to do. Although he dreaded meeting him again, the next time they do cross paths, he wasn't going to back down easily. Reborn was right, if he had the balls to tell the strongest hitman in the world to fuck off, he could do it to a common football playing jock.

* * *

 **A/N** : Finally! An interaction between Reborn and Lambo. Though it was mostly Lambo talking about his ex. What do you think?

 _Che cavolo_ \- What the heck (Literally, what cabbage.)

 _Stronzo_ \- Asshole

 _Tanti auguri_ \- Best wishes


	5. Chapter 5

**Lambo, Age 17, October**

An obnoxious beeping sound invaded his unconscious mind and incessantly rang for a very long time. The lightning guardian tried to ignore it, grasping for at least a few more minutes of sleep but to no avail. With a frustrated groan, the teen shot his arm out to reach for his phone, fumbling blindly to switch his alarm off. He pried a sleep crusted eye open to check the time. It was almost 7am which meant that he only had 30 minutes to get dressed and leave for school.

Fuck his life.

He immediately sprang out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom.

" _Yare, yare, o_ n top of feeling like shit, I even look like shit," he had dark circles under his eyes and they were swollen from all the crying from the night before.

With cold water running under the tap, the young guardian splashed his face a couple times and brushed his teeth before stepping into the shower. In a record time of five minutes and 24 seconds, he was stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and hurried out of the bathroom.

"Ew, Lambo! You're not the only person in this house!" I-Pin was walking down the hallway and at the sight of her brother in a towel, she quickly shut her eyes and turned away.

"It's not like you haven't seen anything before," he stuck his tongue out at her, amused by how easily embarrassed she got.

"Maybe I just don't want to pollute my eyes with your half naked body the first thing in the morning."

"Excuse you, I'm a blessing to the eyes. People often say I am eyecandy," he boasted.

"More like eye broccoli, you broccoli monster."

" _Yare, yare_ , you're just jealous of my good looks, Tail Head," he smirked.

The effect was immediate as she spun around with her hands on her hips, "I'm not a tail head!"

"Right, because now you have 2 tails," he gestured towards her neatly plaited hairdo.

I-Pin swatted his hand away and scowled at him, "Shut up, Crybaby Lambo!"

"Why don't you shut up, 2 Tails Head," he mocked.

Just then, the door to Tsuna's room opened, revealing the disgruntled brunet who frowned at them in disapproval.

Oops, it was supposed to be the Vongola Boss' day off in lieu of his birthday and they had woken him up with all the commotion out in the hallway.

"Geez, will you two ever stop arguing so early in the morning?"

Lambo and I-Pin looked at each other before turning to their older brother, "Nope," they replied in unison, "Happy birthday, Tsuna-nii!" they grinned.

"It's not a normal morning without these two to liven it up," Fuuta chuckled as he approached the three of them, "Happy birthday, Tsuna-nii, let's head down for breakfast."

The blond also promised that he would drive the two teens to school that day, "Go put on some clothes, Lambo."

Lambo gave Fuuta a mock salute and went back to his room to change. He joined the rest of his family at the dining table and noticed Nana digging through the cabinets.

"Anybody remember where I put all the extra light bulbs? One of the light bulbs just blew a fuse again."

While Nana was distractedly looking through the cupboards, the rest of the family turned their heads towards Lambo with varying degrees of raised eyebrows. The guardian took his seat at the table and smiled sheepishly at everyone.

"I can buy some on my way back after class," he offered, mentally making a note to stop by the hardware store after school.

"Remember to be back early okay? Tsu-kun's friends are coming over for his birthday dinner!"

"Okay, Mama," he promised.

* * *

Lambo was halfheartedly listening to his teacher drone on and on about something that he had lost all attention for 20 minutes ago. He had taken to doodling little cartoon cows on his lecture notes as a way to keep himself awake. He couldn't help it, science was such a drag sometimes. How was he ever going to make it through university if his aunt wanted him to undertake a science degree?

At 3pm, the bell sounded, signalling the end of the school day. Finally, the most boring class of the day was over. His stomach was growling and Lambo was relieved that his teacher did not assign them any homework. He promptly packed his stuff and bid his classmates goodbye before going off to find I-Pin. As he ventured out into the hallway, he whipped out his phone to send a quick text to his best friend to let her know he was done.

"Babe! I've been hoping to catch up with you."

" _Yare, yare_ , seven billion people in the world and I just had to run into this _stronzo,_ " the teen mumbled to himself.

"And I was hoping to never see you again," he said out loud, moving past the senior in an attempt to walk away.

"Isn't my boyfriend such a sweetheart, guys?" Akira's voice was dripping with sarcasm and Lambo wanted to gag, "Wait up, baby," the football team captain left his teammates and jogged up to him.

"Will you leave me alone?" he turned to glare at his ex.

"We have to talk this through, babe, you know we're perfect together."

Lambo rolled his eyes. His ex was utterly delusional if he thought they were 'perfect'. Maybe they were. The first few months were all sunshine and rainbows, the honeymoon phase if he put a name to it. Some of his classmates, the females especially, were strangely happy that they had gotten together. They would congratulate Lambo and talk about how the ship sailed itself. Truth be told, Lambo shipped their relationship too and was over the moon when he started dating the senior. Too bad the ship sunk in just six months. He was glad the illusion of his own 'Absolute Boyfriend' was shattered this early before he got too emotionally invested.

He stopped walking when they reached a particularly deserted spot.

"Look, I will give to you in writing if you want. We are never getting back together, okay?"

"Like ever?" the senior had a smug look on his face.

Ah, there it was. That was why Lambo fell for the senior in the first place. He was funny, witty and a great person to hang out with. Not boyfriend material, unfortunately. The young guardian reminded himself that it wasn't the time to be amused by silly pop culture references.

He scowled at the teen standing before him, "Seriously? Get a clue and fuck off already."

"Come on, baby-"

"And don't call me baby, babe or any other stupid pet names. My name is Lambo."

"Hey! Stay away from Lambo!"

His best friend, all of 5 feet and 1 inch, moved in between the two 6 feet giants. She had her hands on her hips, defiantly glaring at the football team captain. The senior chose to ignore her and continued talking to Lambo instead.

"Lambo, just listen to me," he moved to the side, about to approach his ex but I-Pin moved along with him to block his way.

"I-Pin, can you just move out of the way for a sec?"

The teen, however, would not budge. Lambo was grateful that his friend was there but he didn't want to implicate in their discussion. He called her name and when she turned around to face him, he signalled for her to go away.

"Nuh uh, I'm staying right here," she turned back, "Do you have no shame? Why do you keep bothering Lambo?"

The senior looked down at the petite teen before him, "I believe it's none of your business."

"It is if you keep troubling my best friend!"

"Seriously?" Akira frowned, "I'm trying to talk to my boyfriend here."

I-Pin stubbornly shook her head and blocked his way whenever he tried to move. Lambo noticed the growing frustration on his ex's face but before he could act on it, the senior had nudged his best friend away. I-Pin, unprepared for the sudden push, lost her footing and landed right smack on her butt.

That's it.

"What the fuck, Akira?" Lambo went up to the senior and shoved him backwards rather forcefully.

The brunet hit the wall with a thump and once he recovered, he shoved the teen back. The boys started to become more aggressive as the jostling continued with a few punches thrown in on both parts. Akira grabbed a fistful of Lambo's shirt and pushed him up against the wall while Lambo struggled to pry the senior's hands off. In the background, he could vaguely hear some other people trying to get them to stop fighting but amidst all the adrenaline pumping he could only focus on the wild look on his ex's face. Sensing that he really was in danger, Lambo mustered all of his strength and and laid a solid punch on the senior's left cheek. That got him to release his grip and stumble backwards with a pained groan. Immediately, two of Akira's friends moved to grab the brunet before he could launch himself at Lambo again.

"Calm down, Akira!" while the vice captain of the football team was trying to placate him, the other senior turned to the two best friends, "Go, Lambo! We'll deal with him."

I-Pin came up beside Lambo to grab his hand and pull him away. The lightning guardian shot the seniors a grateful look before retreating as fast as they could.

* * *

"We're back!" they chorused once they got through the front door.

Nana greeted them back, "Welcome back! Come into kitchen we're all waiting for you both to start dinner!"

The two friends were starving and were practically salivating at the thought of their Mama's cooking.

"Lambo! What happened to your face?

While Nana was fussing over Lambo, the teen simply handed a plastic bag out to her, "Here, Mama. We got your lightbulbs."

He told Nana that he ran into a pole earlier and it was nothing for her to worry about. The rest of the table regarded him skeptically at his blatant lie. Lambo, however, simply smiled and sat down. He was in a really good mood. Seeing as how they were not going to get any answers from the teen, the family turned to I-Pin instead. She shrugged her shoulders and was also sporting the same happy smile her best friend was wearing. The older adults thought that both of their younger siblings had lost their minds.

Dinner was a lively affair. Nana made a wide spread of delicious food. A mixture of Japanese and Italian food and even fusion dishes were made. Even Bianchi had made a few dishes herself. Unfortunately, nobody but Shamal dared to eat her poison cooking. Nobody thought it was weird when they got together. Back then, Bianchi had just turned 21 and Shamal was ancient but he did not look a day over 30 when he bothered to clean up. Bianchi and Gokudera's father was against it at first, wanting the best for his daughter. He thought Reborn would have been a better match since they had almost gotten married. He did not expect his daughter to introduce to him a man that was, in his words, 'a complete lecher who's going to die soon anyway'.

Whenever Lambo thought about it, he could not help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. He was nine years old back then. One day after school he came home to see his big sister and Dr. Shamal talking to some old uncle. Tsuna was with him at that time and told him that the old uncle was in fact Gokudera's and Bianchi's father. He still remembered how Bianchi had set her father down and calmly said, " _L'amore e cieco_ ," And her father literally face palmed himself and left the house lamenting that his only daughter had gone crazy.

He looked at his silver haired older brother. Gokudera might not resemble his father in terms of looks, but he sure had the same no nonsense attitude his father had. And sometimes, when he was annoyed by anything, he too would slap his forehead in exasperation and mutter to himself.

"What are you smiling at, Stupid Cow?"

"Nothing, Gokudera-shi."

"Come with me," the storm guardian inclined his head towards the stairs, prompting Lambo to go up with him.

" _Yare, yare_ , am I in trouble?"

The older man led him into Lambo's room and closed the door.

He crossed his arms across his chest, "Tell me the truth. What happened to your face?"

The younger guardian sighed, "I just got into a little disagreement, that's all."

The silver haired man raised his eyebrows at the teen, "With who and why?" he asked in a stern voice.

"Okay, okay, I will tell you everything. Put the scary face away."

And so Lambo told his older brother about the fight he had with his ex a few hours ago. All the while, Gokudera was listening with a furrow in between his brows. He was not happy.

"Listen, kid. I'm glad you finally stood up to to your ex. Violence is not always the answer so take this as a lesson to stop being wimpy when it comes to dealing with people who keep bothering you. I hope from now on you won't be so distracted during training and show up on time. Do we have an agreement?"

The young guardian nodded his head and gave the older man a mock salute, "Yes, sir!"

The antics of the teen enticed a small little smile out of the serious storm guardian, "I'll ask the Turf Head to come heal your bruises," he said, before leaving the room.

Lambo waited a good 15 minutes, playing some games on his phone when there was a knock on the door. He called out for the person to enter and when he looked up from his screen, he did a double, no, triple take when he saw the least expected person to enter his room.

"Reborn? What are you doing here?"

The hitman moved to sit down on the teen's bed, "Your Ryohei-nii is too drunk to function so Gokudera asked me to come up here."

" _Yare yare_ ," the guardian sighed, "It's actually not that serious."

Although he was secretly pleased that Reborn actually bothered to come up and to heal him.

"Shut up, Stupid Cow," the former Arcobaleno conjured up decent sized sun flame and began hovering his hand over Lambo's face where the most obvious bruise was.

"Eh, Reborn, don't you want to know what happened?"

"I believe it will involve me saying, I told you so," he deadpanned.

The lightning guardian let out a nervous chuckled, embarrassed, "Right… We got into a fight but it was me who started it."

The hitman looked at the teen and blinked, "Should we test you for mad cow disease?"

Lambo snorted, "Did you just crack a joke?" the teen started bubbling with laughter, "Oh my god, I just realised Akira was wearing a red jersey!"

He thought his mind was playing tricks on him when he spotted a slightly amused smirk on Reborn's face.

"Oi, stop moving," the hitman chided, "Give me your hand."

" _Yare, yare_ , at least get down on one knee first," Lambo had an impish smile on his face, trying to contain his laughter.

Reborn was obviously unimpressed and completely ignored his little joke, what a killjoy. The guardian complied anyway, holding out his bruised hand for the hitman to resume healing.

"How can you expect an old man like me to bend down on one knee?"

Somebody ought to let Reborn know that responding to a joke after a while strips away the comedic effect.

" _Y_ ou're not old," the guardian scoffed, "You look like a healthy 14 year old boy. Wait, how old are you really?"

The hitman stayed quiet, deliberately avoiding the question.

"Now that you've piqued my interest you're just gonna leave me hanging?"

"A true gentleman never reveals his age."

"Yeah, right," the guardian rolled his eyes, "You're like 80 aren't you? Do you like Elvis Presley? I know you have a cosplay outfit of his jumpsuit."

Lambo was ignored of course but he took the hitman's silence as confirmation. As the hitman continued to heal the teen in silence, it allowed the young guardian to take a good long look at the hitman before him. Reborn was very handsome, even if he did look like a young teenager. He could still remember the suit clad baby he met when he was five years old. It was the first time he saw a very stylish baby, one that did not cry or look so dumb. He always thought that Reborn was an actual child and not a grown up trapped in a baby's body. Until several years later he finally understood that the Arcobaleno were cursed babies in a sense that they were cursed to become babies and not actual cursed babies. God, he was an idiot back then.

Occasionally, he wondered how it would feel to suddenly revert back to the body of an infant but still maintain the cognitive function of a fully grown adult. It must not have been easy for them. Sometimes, when I-Pin asked her master about his life as an Arcobaleno, Lambo would listen in intently. Fon once told them how Reborn was actually very angry about the whole curse situation and disappeared for a while. In fact, Reborn wasn't even his real name, it was a name he christened himself with for having to start a new life.

To be reborn.

Every so often, he was curious to find out if the greatest hitman in the world regretted being stuck here in Japan instead of returning to Italy and living his life by his own rules. Lambo knew that Tsuna and Reborn had a bond that went deeper than just tutor and tutee, including Dino. Sometimes he would catch the hitman smiling with pride whenever he looked his two students. It was the same smile Papa had when Tsuna was introduced as the 10th Vongola boss to other alliances. Lambo would know because he was always observing the hitman, waiting for a chance to catch him off guard, of course.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" the guardian asked.

"You already did."

"Another one then. Do you ever wish to get back to your old life?"

The teen internally winced at how he worded his question, he should have probably approached the issue with more tact, "Sorry, forget I asked."

Luckily for him, Reborn did not pull a gun out at the lightning guardian but instead continued to heal his wounds. When he was done, the teen thanked him and apologised for what he said earlier. The hitman moved towards the door to leave but paused for moment.

"No," he said before closing the door behind him.

Wait, did he just hear that correctly?

Frankly, Lambo was slightly taken aback that he actually received an answer from the hitman. Reborn's line of work probably earned him millions of dollars and he could have flown back to Italy a long time ago or gotten his own place instead of living with the Sawadas. Instead, he chose to renovate the basement and turn it into an elaborate bachelor pad complete with a revolving wardrobe for all his cosplay outfits. He had a feeling the answer would be a no because it seemed like Reborn was accustomed to this life and the people in it. If the teen used a stronger phrase, he would call it an emotional attachment.

He rejoined his family downstairs where they were having a karaoke session in the living room. Ryohei and Yamamoto were singing some cheesy old Japanese love song together while Gokudera was almost cringing at they way the sun guardian was painfully out of tune and could barely even stand up to begin with. Tsuna and the rest had taken to clapping along with Haru recording the entire thing on her phone. He walked over where his sister was standing and leaned against the wall.

She turned to him, "Reborn-san healed you?" she squinted under the dim light to check if the bruises on his cheek were still there.

"Yup," he said, popping the 'p'.

She hummed noncommittally, "That's cool. I got a text from Chen, by the way."

Oh, shit.

They had successfully managed to avoid the teachers but Lambo just knew that the disciplinary committee would have heard of the incident sooner or later.

"Do you think Chen will be extra mean because I hit his friend?"

"It's only fair if you both get punished equally," she said, "You **both** are in the wrong."

"I'm not apologising to Akira," Lambo grumbled.

I-Pin rolled her eyes, refraining from commenting further. The guardian knew he was just being stubborn but he really didn't want to say he was sorry until Akira said it first. The senior had been consistently bothering him for some time and like a normal human being, he was bound to snap if provoked.

* * *

It turned out he didn't have to apologise to Akira at all, because he didn't even get to meet him after that day. Chen had reported them to the discipline master, according to protocol but luckily, thanks to I-Pin's side of the story, they both got off easy. An accident that caused a misunderstanding that led to a friend sticking up for another friend. The senior himself had thoroughly apologised to I-Pin but not to Lambo.

It had been a whole month of silence on Akira's end. Sometimes, they would pass each other in the hallways but made no move to acknowledge each other's presence. At first, Lambo made a conscious effort to not look in his direction but he found himself stealing glances at his ex when he wasn't looking. Chen noticed and would smile at him like he was sorry and that was the last thing he needed. He didn't need anyone's pity.

Akira seemed to have move on rather quickly, according to Skull. The senior had various arm candy and had been partying a lot more frequently. Lambo didn't go clubbing anymore because Tsuna had found out and gave him a stern talking to about breaking the law. It didn't bother him that much as he was going to turn 18 next year anyway.

He didn't want to admit it but he missed Akira. He missed them hanging out and going on dates, he missed touching him, kissing him and heck, he even missed taking naps together. It hurt to know that his ex boyfriend did not miss him as much as he did. He was starting to think that Akira didn't even like him all that much when they were together. Was it because he kept holding out?

It was almost love at first sight, now that he thought about it. Good looking, smart, funny, and athletic, he was the perfect student. Plus, he had heard rumours of Akira being openly gay and he was drawn in by the way he interacted with the people around him. He was confident and proud of his sexuality, unlike Lambo who was still afraid of what others might think of him.

Should he have given Akira the benefit of the doubt and a second chance? Did he overreact? He felt so betrayed and embarrassed that night and his anger didn't leave room for any explanation from his boyfriend. Akira wasn't a fling to him, he was so confident about that. The senior gave him the courage to be proud of himself and he really wanted to show his aunt that love would always win. Ottavia still hadn't replied to any of his messages and Annetta told him she hadn't opened her birthday present that he sent her. He didn't know how his aunt would react to his breakup and the last thing he wanted was to be mocked by her for believing so strongly in his relationship.

He didn't know how to resolve the tension with Akira and Ottavia but he desperately wanted closure so they could put the past behind them and move on. Neither seemed willing to talk to him and it hurt. How could they have claimed to care about him only to shove him aside out of spite?

* * *

With their finals exams around the corner, I-Pin had politely asked Reborn to tutor them again. While Lambo appreciated the tutoring sessions with the hitman, it seemed like Reborn always spoke to him like he was stupid. He wasn't going to deny that maths wasn't exactly his strongest subject but did Reborn have to be so patronizing? At least with Akira he could goof around and it sometimes ended with cuddles and kisses.

Damn it, he was thinking about his ex boyfriend again.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, when he felt a sharp sting on the back of his hand, something fell and bounced away on the floor.

He managed to catch sight of a little yellow ball before it rolled underneath the cabinet. It was a BB pellet.

He turned towards the only possible source and he was not surprised to see Leon morphing back into his chameleon self.

"Did you just hit me with a BB gun?" he glared at the hitman, not that Reborn could see him doing so.

Reborn was in a very relaxed stance, legs propped up onto the table and crossed at the ankle. He had the newspaper in his hands and it covered his face.

"No. A bee decided to fly full speed into the back of your hand."

Irritating.

He rubbed the sore spot on his hand, going back to the questions Reborn gave them. He sneakily glanced at I-Pin beside him to see that she was fully concentrated on her work and scribbling the answers while punching numbers on the calculator. He thought long and hard but he just couldn't fathom how to even start the question.

He slumped in his chair and sighed, " _Yare, yare,_ Reborn, this is ridiculously hard."

"It's in your syllabus."

True, but the hitman was supposed to be teaching him not shaking his leg and reading a newspaper. If Reborn wasn't coming to him he would go over and disturb him. Lambo begrudgingly stood up and headed over to where the hitman was sitting, but before he could ask for help, the hitman lowered his newspaper and stared at him.

"Didn't you brag about getting better at maths thanks to a certain someone?"

Oops.

He chuckled nervously, he probably gave Akira too much credit. In his defence, Akira was way more approachable than the hitman and who wouldn't want to spend more time with their boyfriend in the name of tutoring? Although, Reborn did help him and he probably sounded like an ungrateful brat when he bragged about his boyfriend being the sole root cause of his improvements.

"Well... I mean... Sorry," he finally said because excuses were not going to help him solve the damn questions.

The hitman continued staring at him unblinkingly and it was always creepy how he managed to go without blinking for so long. Those beady eyes never changed from when Reborn was a baby till now. That, and his absurdly styled hair. Spiked hair was so 90s and early 2000s and he wondered how much hair product did the hitman waste on getting his hair to defy gravity like that. He looked better with his hair down but the hitman would probably be offended if anyone said that to him.

Hold on a minute, did he just get distracted by his _hair_?

The awkward silence had stretched until Lambo realized they hadn't said a word even after ten seconds.

"Er," he said dumbly, "Will you help me? Please?"

Reborn's mouth quirked up slightly at the corner, he was clearly amused by how the guardian had to practically beg him. Stupid Reborn.

Lambo had to give him credit, he did teach him how to do the questions in the end. Integration was easy but even though differentiation was the opposite, he just didn't know how to do it. I-Pin got everything right, as usual and Reborn gave her 5 questions to do as homework. Lambo, however, was given 10 and he sulked at the hitman as he walked away. When they ended their grueling 3 hour math lesson, Lambo declared himself brain dead and let his head hit the table with a thunk. Big mistake, it hurt like hell.

"You have to take this seriously, Lambo, our exams are coming," I-Pin nagged.

He lifted up his head and groaned, did she have no sympathy for his aching head?

"I-Pin," he whined, "Is maths really so important?"

"If you want to advance into Year 3, then yes. If you want to go to university, it's also a yes."

"Can't you say 'No, not really but I'm sure you can get through this, Lambo!' like a nice person?" he grumbled.

She rolled her eyes in response, gathering up her belongings and then headed upstairs to her room.

"Meanie," he called out after her, sticking his tongue out at her retreating back.

Just then, he heard the jangling of keys outside the house and Nana talking to someone, probably on the phone. He went up to the door, intending to greet her but instead found himself staring right at his ex boyfriend. What in the world was Akira doing at his house?

"Akira-kun helped me carry the groceries home," Nana chirped, smiling gratefully at the senior.

"Hi," the senior waved, hesitantly smiling at the guardian.

Lambo greeted him back, and it was so painfully awkward that the guardian wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

"Why don't the two of you catch up while I prepare dinner?" his mother smiled knowingly, passing them both a bottle of grape soda each.

The two of them headed upstairs to Lambo's room and sat on the floor against his bed. They sat in silence for a few minutes and the guardian didn't think that he had ever seen his ex so quiet for that long. Except for when he was studying or sleeping.

The guardian broke the silence, "Thanks for helping my Mama."

The senior hummed in response, "Sawada-san has always been nice to me. I can't just ignore her just because I was ignoring you."

Ouch, he knew it. Akira **was** avoiding him.

The brunet sighed, running his hand through his hair and messing it up, "I'm not that much of an asshole, if that's what you're thinking."

He went on to say he was sorry for how he acted the past few months, admitting that it was ridiculous of him to keep pestering Lambo even after the guardian had clearly said no. The guardian stayed quiet, not because he didn't have anything to say but because he was waiting for a proper apology for that night in the club. One that didn't sound so hollow and accompanied by a lame ass excuse.

"I was a fucking idiot that night."

Lambo observed his face as he said it, the way his browns pinched in the middle and how worn he looked. It was hard for him to swallow his pride and have this conversation but he was doing it.

"I was fully aware but I still went ahead and did it anyway," he looked down at the soda bottle in his hands, "Just to see your reaction. I didn't sleep with him, Hikaru-nee was home and she kicked him out."

The guardian felt his jaw dropping but recovered from the shock.

"Congratulations, you took my heart out and stepped on it and then acted like you didn't," he snapped, "Did you really think I'll accept you back after that?"

The senior cringed as Lambo said his piece but the guardian didn't hold anything back. He wasn't going to be nice.

"What was our relationship all about then? Do my feelings mean so little to you? Damn it, Akira! I really liked you!" he cried, feeling the hot sting of tears forming at the back of his eyes.

"I'm really sorry," his ex said quietly, too ashamed to face him properly.

Lambo let out a shaky breath, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answers to those questions. Sometimes, not knowing the truth is better off than knowing it. His ex boyfriend's silence on the issue spoke volumes. Rather than saying he chose to keep it to himself, probably afraid of what his words could do. Was it worth knowing if the truth would hurt him badly in the end?

"I'm sorry too, for punching you," the guardian said at last, after calming himself down.

"You do pack a punch, by the way," the senior said, finally looking at him in the eyes.

The guardian took a swig out of his soda bottle and accidentally let out a tiny burp despite trying to contain it. That seemed to have lightened the mood because Akira did the same thing and they soon started a burping competition. They ended up catching up, each talking about what they had been up to in the aftermath of their breakup. They never did get a chance to actually converse properly because there was too much anger and a lot of misunderstandings. It was nice to hang out with Akira again, Lambo had really missed his company. In that half an hour, although it couldn't heal his pain, it alleviated it. It was comforting to know that Akira still cared to ask how he had been getting on with life and how the situation with his aunt was.

"What are we now?" the guardian asked.

"I don't know," the senior admitted, "I know we'll never go back to what we used to be but I don't want us to just stop seeing each other completely."

The guardian nodded, "Me neither," it was exactly how he felt.

I-Pin knocked on the door to inform them about dinner but before he could answer the door, Akira had stopped him.

"Are we cool?" the senior asked, holding out his right fist.

"I guess so," the guardian smiled lazily, returning the fist bump.

All throughout dinner, I-Pin was not so subtly glancing over at the two of them every five minutes or so. The rest of the family, with the exception of Reborn and Nana were highly puzzled by the senior's presence. It turned out that Nana already knew about their break up and she was the one that convinced Akira to gather up his courage and talk to Lambo. How did his Mama even know? Lambo was so careful to keep their breakup under wraps.

When it was time for the senior to go home, Nana had thrust a big bag of food into Akira's hands, insisting that he bring it back. The senior joked about how he and his older sister probably didn't have to cook for an entire week thanks Nana. He wasn't kidding, it actually did look like his mother had packed a ton of food for the two siblings.

As they said their goodbyes, Lambo didn't expect his ex to envelope him in a warm hug. The familiarity of it made him relax but at the same time, he was greatly aware that it wasn't the same anymore. He would allow himself to enjoy it for the last time, just this once.

"You're a great guy, Lambo. Maybe someday you'll find someone who's right for you," his ex boyfriend said with a tinge of sadness.

He held him for a little while longer before letting go and contrary to his earlier tone, Akira sported a bright grin on his face. He punched the guardian's arm lightly, and got into the cab. He waved enthusiastically as the vehicle drove off, leaving Lambo confused yet amused as he realised that even though it was the end of their relationship, it was the beginning of something else. They weren't exactly friends but they had the potential to be. It was going to be hard to completely overcome the pain but Lambo thought he did his fair share of agonizing over the issue the past few months. He didn't want it to hurt anymore. A friendship didn't have to be a downgrade from a romantic relationship but it could be another way to connect with someone. Awkwardness would ensue and if it was too much, he believed they could respectfully come to a mutual decision to end it.

Maybe one day Akira would feel comfortable enough to tell him why exactly he cheated. He may have apologised but he never offered an explanation and even though the inkling to find out had bugged him for a while now, there were times he had to learn to accept apologies without explanations. He could feel his ex boyfriend's sincerity and that alone was enough. Tsuna always told him that dwelling on the past would never give them peace and what he could do instead was to move past it and grow as better person.

* * *

 **A/N:** _L'amore e cieco -_ Love is blind.

If you recall from the earlier chapters, Akira has a sister and in this chapter, I've named her Hikaru to stick with the 'light' theme (Akira = light).

I'm sorry about the delay guys, I've been super busy. Thank you for reading! =)


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N** : I'm sorry about the delay, I'm busy with school so updates will be every two weeks, hopefully.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 17, December**

With Christmas around the corner, I-Pin had dragged Lambo to go shopping for presents at the mall after school on a Wednesday. It was also one of the rare off days she got from her part time job. She wanted to make personalized soap with cute designs so they headed straight up to the craft store for soap making tools. It was their first time doing it so he wondered how their little do-it-yourself project would turn out, hopefully for the best because he was too broke to buy back up presents. I-Pin was rather optimistic so he would take his chances.

Once they were done purchasing the items, they stopped at Starbucks for a drink and to rest for a while. There were new drinks out on the menu and he wanted to try them out as well. They sat at the corner of the café, and while his sister looked through the shopping bag and receipts, he took pictures of his drink and scrolled through his social media apps. All his friends were out having a good time, some even went on a holiday within Japan. Interestingly, Akira's social media accounts had minimal activity and that was an unusual occurence.

"I wonder what Akira's been up to these days."

When he received no response he looked up from his phone to find I-Pin giving him the judgey eyes.

"I'm genuinely concerned as a **friend** ," he emphasized.

"Sure," she said, not sounding convinced.

Alright, he was keeping tabs on his ex but it wasn't a crime. After that day, they hadn't kept in contact but they did acknowledge each other in the hallways and exchange a few words from time to time. Those little interactions were a nice gesture because it showed that they held no resentment towards one another. The classmates who were rooting for them were disappointed when they broke up but were quick to suggest other boys for him to go out with. Surprisingly, the group of boys who snubbed him ever since he came out were not bothering him anymore. After the break up, they had repeatedly made snide remarks about him going after other guys, or even one of them them. The guardian had told them right in their faces that he would never in a million years lower his standards for those mediocre bullies. They weren't too pleased with his stunt and often tried to one up him with ridiculous insults about his penis. Lambo never really paid much attention to them because he was well aware that they were doing it just to get a reaction out of him. He liked to think that he had the patience of a saint. He often wondered if Chen and the disciplinary committee had something to do with their silence because those boys had never backed down before. He was grateful towards Chen if that was the case because he really didn't need drama in his high school life.

He was nervous about becoming friends with Akira, scared of what might happen when his ex finds another boyfriend. Was he expected to pretend they never went out? He had so many questions and no answers to any of the made up scenarios he made up in his head. It sucked, what was he supposed to do? Talk to him or just let everything remain as it is? These were were just one of the few things that kept him up late at night.

"Do you think I should be friends with him?"

"No comment," she said.

It was probably a no, Skull too seemed to think it was a bad idea. The purple haired teen warned Lambo that boys like Akira never changed and one fine day he would try coming on to him again. Gah, he really didn't want to think about it anymore.

The guardian sighed and went back to stirring his sugary caffeinated concoction Starbucks called the gingerbread latte. He was not going to be able to sleep that night from the sugar and caffeine rush. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see I-Pin regarding him curiously.

"I don't like him still if that's what you want to know."

He was regretful of how things ended between them because their trust in each other was weak and shattered before it even had time to develop. He did some reading and found real life accounts online where some people actually got back with their significant others even after they were cheated on and he wondered how forgiving they had to be to do so. Some claimed that their relationship grew stronger after that so maybe they were truly destined to be together. He was more disappointed that their relationship wasn't strong enough to overcome the incident but he would never willingly go back to someone who betrayed his trust like that. The lingering feelings he had were not compelling him to start a relationship with Akira all over again.

"Have you spoken to your aunt?" his sister finally asked.

Lambo sighed again, "Annetta said she might call me over the next few days."

Annetta had gotten into a bit of a cold war with her mother because she was fed up with her stubborn attitude and insistence on ignoring her only nephew just because he was gay. Lambo felt really bad for coming in between the two of them but his cousin had regularly reassured him that she would not stand for her mom or anybody else putting him down. Her words had touched his heart in ways he could never describe and it was comforting to know that she would always have his back.

"Really?" I-Pin sounded delighted, "Isn't that good news?"

"I guess. I'm scared she'll scold me again," he wrapped his hands around his cup to leech it's warmth.

Lambo didn't think he could handle another round of being told he was an abomination and would be heading down to the fiery depths of the underworld once he passed. It would really put damper on his Christmas mood.

I-Pin reached out to hold his hand, "She won't."

She said it with so much conviction that it made him want to believe in her. Maybe he would hang on to her words, just for a little while.

* * *

True to Annetta's words, his aunt did call on Christmas eve. The Sawadas and a few family friends were huddled up inside the house eating fried chicken and watching Christmas shows on television. The adults had opened a bottle of dessert wine to drink and some had already chugged down a couple of cans of beers. Fried chicken and beer, a classic combination.

Haru was cajoling her crying baby boy in her arms and everyone else was unsuccessfully trying to make him laugh. At seven weeks, Fuyu was already packing a strong set of vocal chords which he clearly inherited from his mother.

The guardian felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and it was a message from Annetta to get on Skype. He sneaked upstairs into his room and booted up his laptop. If it was 10pm in Japan, it was 3pm in the afternoon in Italy. They should have just finished having lunch.

The moment he signed in, he immediately received the call. When he answered the video call, he was not expecting to see Aunt Ottavia's face alone. There was an awkward silence for at least 10 seconds before his Aunt cleared her throat and asked him how he was doing.

" _Sto bene_ , _Zietta_ , _come va_?"

" _Sto bene_."

There was a pregnant pause once more and Lambo could vaguely hear Annetta's voice in the background urging her mother to say something. If his aunt didn't want to talk to him, Annetta shouldn't have forced her to call him. Should he just wish them a merry christmas and end the call?

"Have you been eating well?" his aunt finally asked, "Your face looks a bit hollow."

"I think it's the lighting in here, you know me, I always eat like a pig," he chuckled.

His aunt wasn't buying it, he could tell. He did lose some weight but his aunt didn't need to know that.

"How was lunch?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

" _Delizioso_ ," she declared, kissing her fingers.

She went on to list the dishes prepared by their cook, _Signora_ Gigi, which nearly made him drool all over his laptop. KFC was good and all but because he had eaten a KFC meal a few days ago, he wasn't that thrilled to be eating fried chicken on Christmas eve again.

" _Caro, Signore_ Tsuna tells me your exams are coming and-"

His view of his aunt was abruptly gone, replaced by his cousin's irritated face.

"I was talking to him, you rude girl!" he heard his aunt's outraged cry, and could see her lightly slapping his cousin's arm.

"Lambo, were you sad and hurt when Mama ignored you for 3 months?"

"Er…" he wondered if it was a trick question.

His cousin mouthed at him to answer it.

"Yeah," he said, "Very."

"Mama, do you agree that by ignoring Lambo because of some archaic beliefs you could have potentially ruined a beautiful relationship between nephew and aunt?"

" _Dios mio,_ Annetta," Ottavia pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, " _Sì_ ," she admitted quietly.

"Good. Now stop with the small talk and just get into it," Annetta clapped her mother's shoulders and disappeared from his view.

He gave his aunt an encouraging smile, it was highly awkward for the both of them but if Annetta didn't intervene they would have talked about anything and everything else before getting straight to the point.

Ottavia's lips quirked up into a tired smile, she wasn't directly looking at him now. Her head was slightly bowed and she rubbed her forehead slowly, as if she was thinking about what to say.

"Let me start by saying I was wrong for condemning you. Who am I to judge when I've sinned plenty myself?" she sighed, looking upwards and signing the cross, her lips were moving as if she was mumbling a small prayer.

" _Caro_ , can you ever forgive your foolish _Zietta_ ," Ottavia implored, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I said some pretty mean things too _,_ " Lambo admitted, "I'm sorry."

He said all of that because he was angry. Ottavia had always been very vocal about not having a say when he was chosen to be a guardian. She was furious and didn't speak to her mother and Augusto for a long time, going as far as to book tickets to bring Lambo to Japan and out of the Vongola's reach. The Bovino had ties to a company in Namimori because they were working on a project that involved nanoscience. His aunt had friends there too. One day, while touring the company, he had overheard two men discussing about Reborn and that was when he found out that his mortal enemy was in a town. They even narrowed it down to a particular street and that sent his five year old self on a manhunt for the rudest baby he had ever met.

Ironically, instead of bringing him away, Ottavia had led him right to the heir of the Vongola, though she was unaware of it at that time.

"It's unfair to compare us to the Sawadas because we only get to see you for a week out of 365 days in a year," she pouted, "I didn't want you to be a guardian, it's all on Mama and _Zio_."

He nodded, "I know."

"You're part of the Vongola now, but promise me you'll never forget us and always make an effort to be in our lives."

"I'm always going to be your Lambo," he gave her a thumbs up, "Nothing's changed other than the fact that I like boys a lot," he grinned.

"I'm still going to need time to get used to you being, you know," she gestured vaguely, "Love is unpredictable and beyond anybody's control so all I can wish for is for you to be with a good person."

Crap, he could feel the waterworks coming, his aunt had finally come to terms with it. It was still a long journey to complete acceptance but they would get there one day.

" _Grazie mille_ , _Zietta,"_ he was beyond elated at that moment, beaming at his aunt.

" _Ti voglio bene, mio Caro,"_ she smiled, and Lambo wished with all of his heart that he could hug her through his monitor.

"It's a Christmas miracle!" he heard Annetta cheering in the background.

She squeezed into the frame with her mother and they continued chatting for a while till Fuuta reminded him come down and see the guests off.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 17, January**

Lambo had been wracking his brains out the past hour, trying to do the science paper that Gokudera had given him. I-Pin sat across from him, also attempting the same paper but for fun.

He thought she was crazy but his sister had just smiled and said that at that point, she welcomed anything that tested her knowledge. Apparently the papers that their teachers were giving out were getting too easy for her. Show off.

"It's always the same type of questions, haven't you noticed?" she asked.

He shook his head, even if it was the same he seriously hadn't noticed at all. He was too busy frying his brain over trying to figure out the answers.

"If you make any sense out of this, please let me know. Gokudera-shi just wants to get back at me for all the times I've been a brat to him."

I-Pin rolled her eyes, "Oh, please, like he has nothing else to do. Read your textbook once in a while, it's very useful."

The guardian sighed, "This sucks. After this, we have Reborn for maths and that bastard's gonna give a lot of homework to do as well. What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"It's your heck care attitude about your studies, Lambo," I-Pin chided, "Start thinking about it seriously."

Lambo had been terribly busy since November, occupied with torturous tutoring sessions with the devil incarnate himself and the grumpy storm guardian for maths and science respectively. Tsuna had attended his parent-teacher meeting on behalf of Nana and he was not happy to hear about Lambo's grades and apathetic attitude towards his future. The guardian simply didn't know what to pursue for his tertiary education because it wasn't like there was an institution specially catered to the aspiring mafioso or for those who were already in the mafia. Aunt Ottavia had always wanted him to pursue engineering, which he obviously didn't care for. He joked about being a professional party-goer which might have pissed her off a little.

Tsuna had attempted to talk to him about his interests and that was when Lambo realised that he didn't really have any. All his life, he was groomed for just one thing and that was to be the Vongola lightning guardian. He didn't think of any other options because he felt like he didn't need to have a plan B. The ninth generation retired when they were old grandpas so he thought that would most likely be the case for the tenth generation too.

"Oh, my God, do you think they're gonna make me retire after I'm done with uni? That's the only reason why they're making me go to uni isn't it?"

"You're an idiot," I-Pin deadpanned.

"Hey, it's possible okay!" he exclaimed, "A lot of people said I wasn't qualified to be a lightning guardian, including some within the Vongola."

He remembered very clearly all the stares and how people would openly talk about it when he was a child. It worsened after the official inheritance ceremony, there were just some people who refused to accept that the prestigious role of the lightning guardian had gone to a puny 8 year old brat. They'd even boldly suggested to Timoteo and Tsuna to consider other candidates, often from their own families. They didn't like the fact that an unknown child from a small and lesser known mafia family was going to be a part of the Vongola. Till this day, the issue of him being a guardian was controversial because he was a minor and there were rumours that Tsuna didn't like to involve him in mafia duties.

"Those people are morons. Besides, you're working to improve yourself and that counts for something."

"I don't know, Tsuna-nii and the others keep telling me I have the potential but only because they met the 25 year old me from an alternate universe."

"You are him and he is you, so of course you have the potential," she said.

"I'm not him, I may have bits and pieces of his memories but I'm definitely not him."

His sister stopped scribbling into her notebook and looked up, "Is it? Then Byakuran-san isn't the same person as the other Byakurans so that means you should forgive him."

The guardian glared at his sister, why did she have to bring that megalomaniac up?

His regular time travelling activities with the 10 Year Bazooka had left him with an odd side effect of having memories of his alternate selves. Unlike Byakuran, he didn't have the knowledge of what actually goes on in the alternate timelines but just fuzzy memories here and there. At first, it was small, like recalling an event that didn't happen or knowing a person that didn't exist. As he grew older, those memories took a sinister turn as his brain was able to process those subconscious memories that were hidden away. Verde had explained it in more complicated neuroscience terms but basically, his brain was like a sponge that just absorbs everything but it couldn't process the information.

One thing that remained constant was his aversion towards Byakuran and when he was 8, he finally understood why. He had a series of dreams, or rather, nightmares that plagued him for a while. He kept dreaming the same thing over and over again. His older brothers, Reborn, and other allies slowly disappearing, being surrounded by darkness and an eerie feeling of isolation. In the more vivid nightmares, there would be flames and dead bodies and maniacal laughter. He made the connection to Byakuran during a meeting when he overheard the white haired man laughing at one of Ryohei's jokes. He had taken off running in tears, hyperventilating very hard and had collided into Yamamoto who had him do breathing exercises so as to not trigger a panic attack.

When asked, he didn't tell them about the nightmares or the weird memories but just a vague explanation about Byakuran's laugh being scary.

The recurrent nightmares often caused night terrors and crushing anxiety. He could never go back to sleep and would refuse to sleep properly for days and that affected him very badly when he was awake. He could never stay awake during school hours and Nana received complaints at least 3 times a week. A few weeks later, Lambo finally confided in Tsuna after a particular loud episode of night terrors that woke up the whole house and busted their electrical circuit beyond repair. They didn't have electricity for three days and Giannini and Spanner and to make a specially insulated circuit box to protect it from his lightning flames. Fon had generously offered to teach him how to control his lightning flames when he heard what happened because he knew Verde would be of no help. The mad scientist would have used the opportunity to experiment on his brain instead. Creep.

Later on, he learned that his dreams were about the Future That Never Was. Tsuna had chosen to have everybody retain the memories of the alternate future and perhaps Lambo did not 'remember' them sooner because he was too young then. Nightmares of the alternate future were often vague but it was always him and Fran running together. The older adults speculated that Lambo and Fran were one of the few survivors of the bleak future. The two youngest guardians bonded over their shared 'memories'. Weirdly enough, despite their differences, they managed to get along even without the 'memories'.

He once asked the illusionist how he dealt with the 'memories' but Fran had loosely shrugged his shoulders and casually said that he had seen worse. For the lightning guardian, Reborn had used hypnosis to help him suppress most of the nightmares. He claimed that the night terrors were annoying and disturbing his quality of sleep. It helped to a certain degree. Lambo still got nightmares from time to time but very rarely. It usually happened when he was stressed but he didn't have to worry because he rarely got stressed out by anything.

What he understood from it all was that Byakuran was an evil man that did malicious things in order to take over the world. He might be as innocent as a lamb in this timeline but Lambo couldn't come to terms with it after everything he had seen in his nightmares.

"I hate it when you use my own logic against me," he grumbled.

The teen gave him a sickly sweet smile, "Just doing my job," she said cheerily.

"I'm not forgiving him," he harrumphed, "Never, ever."

"Don't let Tsuna hear you say that," said a voice directly behind him, startling him.

He glared at the hitman as he moved to sit on the couch, "Tsuna-nii knows and I think he's given up on making me play nice with that marshmallow freak."

He was sick and tired of people telling him to put the past behind when they've clearly not seen what had happened in those futures dominated by Byakuran. He used to brush it off with a fake smile or a slight nod but that made people try to convince him even more. Once, he had snapped at his older brother, coldly informing him that the he shouldn't be telling him what to do when he hasn't experienced the other worlds like Lambo had. The guardian felt terrible afterwards for being so rude but that deterred his older brother from bringing up Byakuran ever again.

The hitman smirked, "And you call me petty."

The guardian scoffed, "Excuse you, are you seriously comparing my resentment towards a psychotic dictator with you holding a grudge over a stupid word?"

"Obviously, **Stupid** Cow."

"Don't call me stupid, **Idiot** Reborn."

"See, I-Pin," Reborn turned to the teen, "This is the very definition of 'pot calling the kettle black'."

I-Pin burst out laughing at this point, and Lambo rolled his eyes at the smug looking hitman.

"Whatever," he waved them off, "Prepare to be impressed because this **Stupid** Cow managed to finish all the questions you set for me in exactly 62 minutes."

The guardian proudly displayed the work done on his notebook, flipping through the pages to show how thorough he was when he did the equations. He even checked it three times after he was done because he was surprised he had finished it with such ease.

"Oh, really? Finish this in 45 minutes and then we'll talk about being impressed," the hitman proceeded to dump a pile of papers onto the coffee table and they landed with a big thump.

Well, fuck.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 17, March**

"Why do we only have one week of spring break," Lambo whined to his sister.

With the month of March coming to an end, the snow was melting as the weather became warmer. They had just alighted from the bus and were making their way back home, shuffling their shoes along the pavement.

"Go ask the government," she replied monotonously, not really in the mood for a conversation.

Lambo pouted at his sister but he kept quiet for her sake. Working his ass off for the past few months had paid off and he got a B average in science and maths. He was excited to bring his report card home hoping that Tsuna would let him off the hook and let him have some fun again. I-Pin got excellent grades as usual but she wasn't entirely happy with them because she was expecting an S grade for maths but got an A instead. He wanted to cheer her up by bringing her to a cat cafe over their spring break to help take her mind off school. Maybe he would invite Skull along too.

Speaking of the purple haired teen, he hadn't heard from his friend in a while. Skull had gone away on a mission for the Carcassa _famiglia_ and he was supposed to be back two days ago but he hadn't texted to say that he had returned.

He hoped the teen hadn't run into any trouble. It was a mission for the Carcassa _famiglia,_ hence it probably involved the dangerous side of the mafia, ones that weren't siding with the Vongola. Mafia politics was on whole new different level which Lambo didn't quite comprehend. Some bosses, like Tsuna, would speak of peaceful and nonviolent negotiations but it was ironic because the mafia were known to be outlaws and rebels. His knowledge of the mafia was very limited, but he knew that there were families that were downright horrible. They threw away their humanity a long time ago and it was futile to even reason with them.

The Carcassa _famiglia_ fell somewhere in the middle. Neither a friend nor foe, they, like many other mafia families, belonged to the grey area. Like the Cervello, they helped the Vongola where they could only if it benefited them in the end. Gokudera had warned him to not get too close to Skull but when was Lambo ever known to follow his orders properly? Just because the family he worked for was bad news, it didn't mean that Skull was a bad person. He was even friends with the Simon family, also known as the best friend of the Vongola within the mafia community.

Maybe Skull had already returned home but was just ignoring everybody in favour of sleeping on his day off. Lambo figured he'd pop by the teen's house that evening and bring him some food. Homemade food was way better than takeout or the microwavable meals he liked to eat.

"I wanna go over to Skull's place later."

"Tsuna-nii won't let you out so late you know," she reminded him.

"Who says I'm gonna ask Tsuna-nii?" he grinned.

When they reached home, the guardian made sure to help Mama set the table and help her to do the dishes after dinner. He waited around an hour before going over to her room. As expected, she was lounging on her bed with her tablet, watching an episode of the latest Korean drama.

From the reflection off her glasses he could see that it was a fast paced scene, with different images popping up every second. Nana loved to watch those period Korean dramas that involved a whole lot of sword fighting and sometimes supernatural elements. She claimed that those were the best type of dramas because there was action, romance, and a worthy plot.

"Mama," he sing-songed, "Can I pack some food for Skull? I'll be back by 9.30, I promise. Please?"

It was impossible for him to be back by 9.30 because it was already 8 and it took him an hour to get there. Maybe if he stayed long enough he could make up an excuse and stay over at the teen's place.

"Sure," she said, without looking away from the device.

"Really?"

Did he hear correctly?

She hummed in response, effectively ending the conversation. Success!

He preened as passed by I-Pin's room, doing a little victory dance in the hallway. She gave him the stink eye and slammed the door in his face.

Since Tsuna had gone out with Kyoko on a date, he wasn't due back till later. Fuuta was staying over at his friend's dorm to study for an exam. Medical students could never catch a break and sometimes the guardian worried for his blond older brother. Once, he caught him reciting the names of the human bones on repeat for at least two hours. He was so creeped out that he slept in I-Pin's room that night.

He rummaged his cupboard and threw on a simple white t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a simple accessory. His favourite bull horn necklace. He grabbed his valuables and his cardigan and headed straight to the kitchen to pack the leftovers. He spied a little movement from the corner of his eye prompting him to look up from the counter. Reborn was standing at the kitchen entrance and staring at what he was doing.

"Did you want some?"

He had forgotten that Reborn hadn't eaten dinner with them earlier.

"No, I've had my dinner outside. If you're this free to go out can I assume that you've finished my homework?" the hitman asked.

Even though his exams were already over, Reborn was going to continue giving him homework because that's how evil he was. The guardian smiled sheepishly, he wasn't done and their next session was tomorrow. It looked like he couldn't stay over at Skull's place after all. If he did, he would have hell to pay the next day.

"I won't be gone long," he said, "I'll just drop this off and be right back."

Reborn's eyes shifted over to the containers of food, "Are you moonlighting for a food delivery service?"

The guardian snorted, "Nah, this is for Skull. I can't reach him so I thought I'd check on him."

He carefully placed the containers in a bag and tied the handles into a tight knot. He had given up on tying them together with a _furoshiki_ because every time he did so, the knot always came loose and the contents would spill all over.

When Reborn didn't continue the conversation further, Lambo glanced up to see that the hitman was heading down to his room.

Rude. And wasn't he going to ask him more about Skull?

The former Arcobalenos had a very unusual 'friendship'. They still bullied Skull but it had toned down over the years. Maybe their relationship didn't extend to checking up on one another. Skull was usually glued to his mobile devices 24 hours a day which was why Lambo found it odd that the purple haired teen wasn't replying him. What was the point of having two phones if he couldn't even answer one?

It was getting dark outside and his bus was coming soon so the guardian quickly pocketed his belongings and left the house.

When he reached the teen's apartment, the first thing he noticed was that it was very quiet and dark inside. Skull liked to blast music and switch on almost every light in the house, not caring if the neighbours complained or not.

He knocked on the door and called out to the teen several times but there was no answer. He called Skull's phone at least five times, putting his ear to the door to listen for his ring tone. He tried his other number with no luck.

Nothing.

Just complete silence.

It was time for Plan B. The guardian set the bag down onto the ground and scanned his surroundings. He made sure there was no one in sight before summoning his lightning. He concentrated on holding back the voltage as he wanted to release the right amount of electricity to mess with the bio metric lock but not too much that it would fry the system and alert some special forces to come for his ass. Physically destroying the lock tended to trigger the alarm as well. He learnt that from Annetta when she would sneak around the mansion whenever she was coming home past her curfew. Aunt Ottavia liked to change the password to teach her a lesson but his cousin always found a way to outsmart her mother.

There was a bit of a buzzing sound and the lock glowed a beautiful electric green before there was an audible clicking sound. The guardian slowly opened the door as sudden movements would activate the booby traps. In order to disable the traps, he had to punch a code into another indoor security system. He wasn't exactly sure of the code but he could take a very good guess. He keyed in the numbers 0808, Skull's birthday. It was the same code for his phone, if the fingerprint scanner didn't work.

Skull really needed to step up his game because his security system was pretty easy to get around. Well, to him at least. Reborn had the same bio metric lock installed on his bedroom door but his was brilliantly modified by Giannini. One simple mistake and the intruder would instantly be immobilized, either by getting the air knocked out of them or by a special poisoned dart. That one time he tried to snoop around the hitman's room backfired after he got hit by a retractable boxing glove. A giant, very solid, retractable boxing glove.

The guardian tossed his glove in front of him and waited for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear. When he felt like it was okay to move freely, the first thing he did was to bring the food bag in and close the door. Hopefully, nobody had seen him breaking into Skull's house.

Even in low lightning, he could see that the teen's apartment was very messy. He switched on the lights and it looked like a hurricane had swept through the house. He was used to Skull's untidiness but this time there were random stuff strewn all over the floor. It was like a minefield, he had to carefully step over the objects to get to the kitchen. It was amusing to see how clean the kitchen was compared to the rest of the house because it was the one place where Skull rarely stepped into. There were cups and utensils in the sink and the trash bin had a half eaten microwavable meal. It smelt bad but the contents were not decayed beyond recognition, confirming that Skull was indeed around the past few days.

He set the food bag down on the bar top counter and made his way towards Skull's bedroom, checking the guest room on the way. Lambo had half a mind to clean his friend's apartment because even his bedroom was a sight to behold. Papers and clothes strewn everywhere and the cupboard doors were wide open and emptied out. What in the world was Skull up too?

The guardian paused for a second, suddenly aware of the feeling of being watched. He could feel the presence of someone else in the same room. He decided to act normal, pretending to snoop around the closet. His entire arm broke out in goosebumps, despite the room being warm. He took in a few deep breaths, reminding himself to not freak out. He dislodged the loose metal bar from the cupboard and held it in his hand, just in case.

If it was a ghost, his weapon of choice wouldn't help but if it was a living thing, rest assured he wasn't going to hold back if he was under attack.

"You're ridiculous, Stupid Cow."

The guardian whirled around, recklessly swinging out the metal bar at the source. He stopped after he realised he was just aimlessly whacking air. His heart was wildly racing in his chest and he was breathing very hard, almost close to tears. The lights were switched on and Lambo came face to face with his mortal enemy who would happily see him die out of fright.

" _Ciaossu,_ " the hitman greeted, casually tipping his fedora.

" _Che cazzo,_ Reborn?!" the guardian furiously whispered, clutching his heart with his hand.

The hitman strode past him into Skull's bedroom, using Leon as a magnifying glass to examine the area. The guardian stood rooted to his spot, slightly dumbfounded as he observed the hitman.

"What are you doing?"

"Searching for clues."

"What clues?"

He was ignored as Reborn began gathering up the papers on the floor.

"Take this," the hitman threw something at him.

It was a Blackberry, Skull's other phone. He pressed the button and the phone lit up, displaying a text message sent yesterday.

"Give me the goods and I'll set him free." he read out loud.

Goods? Like what, drugs?

"Oi, seriously, what's going on?"

"One would presume that Skull was coerced into making a transaction to get someone back."

"Who?"

"You," replied the hitman, now looking at him directly.

The hitman had briefly told him about how Skull had sent a vague text to Reborn just yesterday about Lambo being in danger. Fast forward to today the teen hadn't shown up to their outing earlier that afternoon. Lal Mirch had gone to check the teen's house only to find the Blackberry in the bushes just a few feet away from Skull's apartment building.

"If someone told you I was in danger wouldn't your first reaction be to check on me or warn me at least?"

"I received the text while we were having dinner so obviously I knew you weren't."

Oh.

"Wait, wait. Couldn't you have told me Skull had gotten into some sort of trouble before letting me come all the way here and then scaring the crap out of me?"

"No. Even if Skull is in danger, there's nothing you could do-"

"Hey!"

"-and I was waiting to see if it was an elaborate prank."

The guardian stared at the hitman in disbelief. As if he had nothing matter to do than to fake a kidnapping and get so many people involved just to mess with him. Lambo knew better than to fool people and play with their feelings. In case of a real emergency, he didn't want to end up like the boy who cried wolf.

"Have you told Tsuna-nii? Enma-san? What about the Carcassa _famiglia_?"

"Carcassa. Tsuna and Enma don't need to know."

Lambo frowned when he heard that, "Why? Is Skull unworthy of being saved by the saints of the mafia world?" he said sarcastically.

There was no reply on the hitman's side and Lambo took his silence as a 'yes'. Big deal, the Carcassa dealt with drugs but that didn't mean they deserved to be treated like scum of the earth.

"You know how your Tsuna-nii gets," the hitman said quietly, "He'll find a way to meddle and make things worse. Go home before he starts looking for you."

The guardian rolled his eyes and continued searching for anything that might be useful to figure out where exactly Skull had gone too. Stupid Reborn, he'll show him. Just because he was the weakest out of the Vongola guardians and in comparison to I-Pin, that didn't mean he was useless.

"Go home, Brat. I'm serious."

"Don't tell me what to do."

Lambo defiantly glared at the hitman, daring him to say anything. He was almost 18 years old, not the wimpy 15 year old brat who ran crying as soon as he got a boo boo.

Reborn stepped towards him and for a split second, Lambo thought he was going to get beaten up when suddenly, the hitman grabbed his collar and pushed him into the closet.

"Oi, what- mmph!"

Reborn put his hand over his mouth and signalled for him to be quiet. The hitman withdrew his hand and shut the closet door. Lambo could see that he was still there because his shadow hadn't moved.

The guardian kept as quiet as possible, trying to listen to whatever that was going on outside the closet. He could feel his legs going numb but he tried not to move just in case he knocked anything over. His long legs were not made to be confined in a closet. Stupid Reborn, he could have told him nicely instead of forcefully shoving him inside.

He heard two male voices and they were speaking in Chinese and he couldn't figure out what they were saying other than the basic 'yes', 'no' and 'the thing is not here.' Lambo picked up a bit of the language from I-Pin and Fon over the years. Could they be looking for the supposed 'goods' that Skull was supposed to handover? Was that why they were keeping him because Skull didn't give them what they wanted?

Reborn's shadow moved as the two men continued conversing. A loud cry made him jump and soon after he could hear pained grunts and stuff clattering to the floor before it went quiet again.

Lambo waited a few moments before creaking open the closet door and he peaked out into Skull's room. When he was sure there was nobody, he ventured out of the closet and peered through the crack of the door. He saw a body lying motionless on the floor and Reborn pinning a bald man down. Reborn was questioning the man with a gun pointed to his head. It was disconcerting, he had never seen Reborn with such a cold glint in his eyes. He truly looked like a hitman in that moment, ruthless and out to kill. He was not just a suit clad 14 year old teenaged boy with a fancy fedora on his head.

The bald man was whimpering in pain, Lambo could see that his face was red and swollen. Baldy kept repeating something in Chinese, which Lambo couldn't quite make out but judging from how he was pleading with Reborn it must have been a plea to not kill him.

With a strong thwack to the head, the bald man was rendered unconscious and Reborn took out his phone from his pant pocket. The door creaked as the guardian slowly opened it. He tiptoed his way over to the hitman's side, careful to not step on the two men. Lambo genuinely felt bad for a moment but he had to remind himself that those two were working for the bad guys that took his friend.

Now that Lambo got a closer look at the men, they looked familiar.

"Club bouncers! They're the club bouncers at Fritz Spritz."

Fritz Spritz was the nightclub he usually frequented with Hinata and Akira. That was also where Skull hung out too. They had discounts for happy hour all the time and underage students could get into the club with no trouble as long as they look older.

What kind of name is Fritz Spritz," Reborn turned to him, "What is the club like?"

"It's near Yoru station. They have cheap alcohol and I've heard rumours of drug dealing but I didn't think it was true."

Wait, did that also mean that students like him could easily get access to drugs in that club?

"Holy shit," he whispered.

"Rethink your life choices later, Stupid Cow. Go home."

Good grief, not this again.

"No," he said, loud and clear.

"Go home or I'll make you go home," Reborn said slowly, eyes boring into his own.

Okay, Reborn was starting to freak him out a little but he was not going to be psychoed into backing down.

"You guys always tell me I can't handle missions but whenever there is one you don't let me go. How the actual fuck am I ever going to learn if you guys don't let me do shit?"

Aunt Ottavia was right, because they never gave him missions or important tasks, it was as if he was just wasting his time in the Vongola. His title was just for show.

"Skull is my friend and he got in trouble because of me and I'll be damned if I just sit at home and do nothing."

Silence reigned over the them and Lambo could sense that the hitman was a bit pissed off. If Reborn allowed him to tag along, he would be responsible for whatever that would happen to him. Tsuna was going to be absolutely livid.

"Fine. Don't come crying to me if you get shot."

Shot? They wouldn't… Would they?

Reborn spun around on his heels and and walked right out of Skull's apartment. Lambo scrambled to follow him out and then realized that the doors would remain unlocked. What about those two thugs inside?

"Don't bother, Stupid Cow. The Carcassa will deal with it," Reborn called from the stairs.

Stairs? Skull lived on the the 23rd floor and this idiot wanted to take the damn stairs?!

The guardian internally groaned, Reborn was definitely doing this on purpose. Perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut and gone back home. Oh no, he didn't need to worry about random people shooting at him, he had to worry about that bastard making things difficult for him instead.

"Good luck to me."

* * *

 **A/N** : Oooh Reborn and Lambo working together~ What do you think is gonna happen?

I've always wondered if there was more to Lambo than we've always thought. Some things in canon are kinda confusing too. How did a 5 year old hop on plane and go to Japan by himself? How did he travel through time and not know how shitty the future was? (Every other alternate universes were supposedly destroyed by Byakuran.) More importantly, who gave him candy and food on the other side?!

By the way, I named Haru's baby Fuyu because it means winter and 'Haru' means spring.

 _Sto bene /_ _come va -_ I'm good / How are you?

 _Delizioso -_ Delicious

 _Zio/Zietta -_ Uncle/Aunt

 _Dios mio -_ Oh, my God.

 _Si -_ Yes

 _Grazie mille -_ Thank you very much

 _Ti voglio bene, mio Caro -_ I love you, my dear

 _Che cazzo -_ What the fuck

Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Lambo's knees ached and he was mentally cursing his rival's existence all the way down from the 23rd floor. Stupid Reborn, there was no reason at all to take the stairs. He was definitely trying to make Lambo regret his decision to include himself in the rescue mission. The hitman loathed to be wrong and the guardian knew that whatever he said was a hundred percent true. Tsuna and the others never gave him a chance to prove himself capable of handling difficult situations. High risk missions and confidential issues were rarely discussed in front of him.

He would love to point out to his older brother that even though they didn't have a choice back when they were in middle school, those fights and trials allowed them to grow up to be badass guardians. Involving teenagers in dangerous situations were highly questionable on the Vongola family part but luckily for them, they had the guidance of several reputable mafioso, including the Arcobaleno.

Those kids were forced to grow up having been abruptly shoved into the mafia world. Lambo understood why Tsuna didn't want him to be faced with a similar predicament. However, the truth was that Lambo had been chosen to be his lightning guardian and they might as well suck it up and teach him the ropes before he got himself killed out in the field.

He used to resent being the lightning guardian when he was younger, wishing to be free from all the rules and restrictions. Back then, he wanted his freedom but now, more than ever, he wanted to prove his worthiness and competence. He wasn't just some lazy freeloader from a small family and he wasn't just Crybaby Lambo. It was time he made a name for himself and he could start by being a proper Vongola lightning guardian.

When Lambo finally reached the bottom of the stairwell, he was panting and burning up on the inside despite the cool weather. 23 floors meant 46 flights of stairs that was no joke. He reckoned he had reached his workout quota for that week.

"I hate you sometimes, Reborn," he sat on the steps, pausing to catch his breath.

"Only sometimes?"

"Believe it or not I think you're actually a cool dude sometimes okay. Do you have water?"

"Do I look like I have water?"

"You like to whip things out from nowhere so yeah."

"You're ridiculous," the hitman remarked, before slamming the door on his way out.

Wanting water was ridiculous?! Urgh, stupid Reborn and stupid him for being so gung ho about this.

He stuck his tongue out at the closed door, not that the hitman was going to see it anyway. The guardian hauled himself up and made his way to the parking lot. It was dimly lit and quiet, and Reborn was nowhere in sight. Damn it, how did he always managed to disappear?

The only thing he could see were very expensive parked cars. There was a cute Mini Cooper with black and white stripes and a sleek silver Audi. One day he was going to own one of those sexy beasts.

When he reached the last row of the parking lot, he was a bit confused by the absence of Reborn and he almost concluded that the hitman might have ditched him when a pair of headlights was suddenly switched on.

"Lambo-san, this way," he heard a voice call out to him.

The guardian froze, he was contemplating whether he should run away. What if it was a trap? The bad guys did want him after all…

"Stop wasting time, Stupid Cow," came a snarky familiar voice.

He tried glaring in the hitman's direction but it backfired on him because he accidentally stared straight at the headlights. Ouch, the guardian immediately squinted his eyes and partially covered his face.

It was funny how almost every mafia family had a stereotypical getaway van even though it made them look highly suspicious. It was either a van or a black car with tinted windows. Lambo wouldn't fall into that stereotype because he was going to get a red car. A gorgeous ruby red car with a glossy finish.

The lights dimmed down a little, which meant that some idiot switched on the highway beam instead of the normal headlights.

"Sorry about the highway beam, Lambo-san, are you okay?"

Holy fucking shit, forget about gorgeous cars, there was a gorgeous man right in front of his very eyes. The man had dark brown hair, and a chiseled jaw and he was smiling apologetically at him.

"Yeah, I'm great," he smiled back.

Nevermind the fact that he was almost blinded though, people made mistakes, the guardian reminded himself. And the man called him 'Lambo-san', who did that anymore?

"Oi, get in."

Stupid Reborn, could he not see that he was having a moment with this gorgeous man?

He climbed into the back of the van, and shut the door. There were other people inside and they greeted him with a brief nod. There were two men and two women who looked like they could snap his body in half without trying. He took a seat next to Reborn, opposite the four other passengers. Since Reborn refused to budge, he had to move past him and sit nearer to the driver's compartment.

"Everything good back there?" the driver asked.

"Yes, sir," came the immediate reply from the four passengers.

"Er, do you have water?" he asked, looking at the driver expectantly.

"Yes we do, Lambo-san," the man turned around and handed him a small bottle of water.

"Can I have it all?"

"Sure," the man flashed a blinding smile at him, and Lambo could spot a dimple on his left cheek even with the lousy lighting.

The guardian could feel himself mirroring the man's expression as he thanked him. He turned to Reborn and preened, showing off his water bottle. The hitman rolled his eyes and turned away.

It was a long drive to Fritz Spritz, one of the reasons why he went there was because it was far away from the area they lived in so the chances of him being spotted by his family or their neighbors would be significantly less. The drive was mostly quiet and Lambo felt very restless, bouncing his knee every so often. The four other Carcassa members were very still, staring straight ahead. They didn't even move or let their eyes wander. If they did, Lambo could not tell.

Reborn had his legs crossed and arms crossed over his chest. His fedora was covering his face slightly and the guardian assumed he might have been napping along with the little green chameleon on his shoulder. The hitman loved his naps after all. It was weird how he and Leon could sleep virtually anywhere.

With nothing to do, Lambo had attempted to make friends with the hot driver and found out that his name was Frederick. He was of Korean and German descent and the sharp jawline was evidence of that. He was a brunet too, totally Lambo's type. Unfortunately, he was 35 years which was way over his preferred age range.

He did often wonder how age gap relationships worked but after witnessing Bianchi and Shamal together, he realised it was just a normal kind of relationship. It depended on whether the two people in question were compatible and their ability to make the relationship work. The only difference was that Bianchi and Shamal didn't have the 'young love' vibe like Kyoko and Tsuna had when they first started dating.

So while he would be open to dating older men, it was weird when those men were in the same age group as his older brothers. It would be best for him to stick to fan boying over male celebrities for now. At least until he entered university because that's when he would be well over 18 years old.

Who knew, maybe he would find love in college like his parents had found each other.

* * *

They parked three blocks away from Fritz Spritz and when Lambo got out of the van, he was not expecting to see Lal Mirch and Colonello.

"Hey, you guys here for the rescue mission too?" he was a bundle of nerves but also excited at the same time.

Lal Mirch looked past him and addressed Reborn directly, "Why is the kid here?"

" _Yare, yare_ , Lal-san, my name is Lambo and I'm not a kid," he chimed in, but he was ignored.

It was funny because the former Arcobalenos were all shorter than him and looked younger than him but they kept calling him a kid. Lal didn't look too pleased to see him that's for sure. Well, he wasn't planning on being a burden. Fon's training did help him a whole lot, he could actually spar with I-Pin and not lose within the first 10 minutes.

"Says he wants to help," said Reborn, "I told him we're not responsible if he got shot."

"I don't suppose Tsuna will be too happy about that, _kora_."

Lal turned to him, "If you dare die, I will raise you up from the dead and kill you myself. Listen to orders and stick close to Reborn. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" he saluted and almost snickered when he saw the former COMSUBIN commander roll her eyes.

The plan was pretty straightforward. Go in, find Skull, kick some butt and escape. Only thing that sucked was that he had to partner up with Reborn who was probably devising ways to make his life miserable if he dared to fuck the mission up. Too bad he wasn't going to be on stakeout duty with Frederick. It just wasn't meant to be.

The former Arcobaleno were obviously underage so gaining entry through the front was never going to work out. The club was pretty crowded and Lambo could hear the music as they walked towards it. There was a long line of people outside and cars tearing down the street. There were lots of people walking around too so they had to be very careful. They hid themselves in shadows in one of the small allies across the street.

A car honked, directing his attention towards a drunken man dangerously crossing the road in the midst of ongoing traffic. Soon, a whole row of cars had to abruptly jam their brakes to avoid banging into the inebriated man. He winced when a chorus of honks started blaring and cuss words were repeatedly thrown in left and right. The man wasn't even the least bit bothered, flashing both his middle fingers as he swaggered by.

Without even realizing it, Lal and Colonello had slipped out while he was momentarily distracted and completely disappeared from his view. The guardian was left staring out at the busy street, scanning the outside of the club to see if they were anywhere nearby.

"Let's go, Stupid Cow. Do try to keep up."

"Aye, aye, captain," the guardian smirked.

Reborn had led him away from the club and they went around the blocks to walk by the back alley. It was significantly quieter and much darker at the back. Lambo and his friends rarely walked by the back because it was unsafe. There was a sudden click coming from the door and before he could react, he was pulled by his collar into a corner where the pipes were. Urgh, gross.

"Boss is not going to be happy. Where is Feng and Lee?"

"Who cares about those two dumbfucks. Can't even do a proper job right," came the scathing reply before the speaker switched to Chinese.

Their footsteps indicated that they were approaching their little corner and Reborn had pushed him further inside and the guardian very nearly let out a disgusted squeak at the thought of touching the damp, moss covered wall.

He picked the wrong day to wear a white shirt and beige coat. It wasn't that cold out considering it was still March but he was starting to feel a bit stuffy and by the sound of their heavy stomps and further comments about 'Feng' and 'Lee' the two men haven't completely left the area yet.

Lambo figured Feng and Lee must have been the two bouncers at Skull's place.

One of their phones started ringing at that moment and immediately he heard the second speaker shout into the receiver.

Lee was on the other line apparently.

Shit, they were awake?

"Fuck!"

Lambo jumped slightly at the exclamation.

"We might be under attack. Lee said the fedora hitman beat the shit out of them and is probably headed here."

Uh oh.

"Damnit, I'll call boss now. Hurry up and get your asses back here."

Before Lambo could even reach out to tap Reborn's shoulder, the teen had moved fast, and all he could hear was a few pained grunts and phones clattering to the floor before it quieted down again.

"You can come out now."

Lambo emerged from their hideout, cautiously eyeing the bodies on the floor. Their phones were literally smashed against the concrete floor and the screens were shattered beyond repair.

"How do you manage to take down people that are a lot of bigger than you?"

Those two men, and even the bouncers weren't of an average size. They had a lot of muscles and their biceps were huge.

"I'm not the Strongest Hitman for no reason," a smug smile was playing on his lips.

True.

" _Yare, yare,_ you don't need to be a show off. One day I will find your weakness. Even Hercules had one."

"Hercules did not exist, Stupid Cow."

"That's besides the point."

"And your point is?"

"I'll find your weakness one day, just you wait."

"Leon, don't ever try to understand stupid people. Especially Stupid Cows in particular."

Leon blinked at him and the little shit had the audacity to actually stuck his tongue out at the guardian. How rude.

The two of them side stepped over the bodies and proceeded to enter the club. The back door was near the toilets and boy did it stink. Lambo could hear questionable noises coming from the toilets and he didn't want to know what was happening in the cubicles.

As they neared the main section of club, he could hear one of those annoying techno music being played. The beat dropped and there were cheers from the dance floor. Why that happened, Lambo didn't know it was just a thing to do when the beat dropped.

Weird clubbing traditions.

He kept an eye out for anyone he might know, Akira in particular because he frequented the clubs a lot. High school was over for him and he had gotten into University of Namimori as expected. It would awkward for someone to spot him while he was on a mission and even more difficult to explain why his supposed younger brother was in the club with him.

Lambo swore he could see Reborn lose a little bit of his patience whenever someone referred to him as the guardian's younger brother. Tsuna always introduced Reborn, Lambo and Fuuta as his distant cousins and I-Pin as his adopted sister.

If Reborn had regained his adult form after the curse was broken, he would probably be the weird creepy uncle living in the basement. Or would he even be living with them?

Probably not.

His teachers were actually quite concerned with Reborn not attending school after it got out that he had a 'younger brother'. Lambo made up a story about Reborn being a genius and having to attend a prestigious private school for elites. He should have thought it through because then Tsuna had to request for Irie Shoichi to create a fake profile in the school and Photoshop Reborn into random class photos.

Lambo got into a lot of trouble for that. Colonello let him off easy during training because he was too busy laughing at Reborn in a sailor uniform. The horrors he experienced with Reborn however, left him with nightmares about sailor uniforms for a week. He would take comfort in thinking that Reborn secretly enjoyed the photoshoot and cosplaying in the sailor uniform but was butthurt that he got exposed.

The music was abruptly cut off and the cheers and dancing slowed to a stop. Reborn put his hand up, halting him in his steps. They hid behind the pillar watching the people on the dance floor starting to become annoyed and booing the DJ. The DJ fiddled with his turntable, randomly pressing buttons and checking his laptop. He glanced at the bartender who was just as dumbfounded as he was. The DJ was visibly getting nervous as people raised their voices at him and started advancing towards his area.

The sharp shrill of the fire alarm silenced the crowd, and a voice over the loudspeaker was announcing to them that there was a fire and the patrons needed to evacuate safely and in an orderly manner. While the bouncers were busy evacuating and ushering the crowd out, the two of them took advantage of the commotion and slipped away.

Phase 1 was complete.

Colonello and Lal should have encountered the bad guys already. Lambo couldn't decide if he was having fun at the thrill of it all or just plain jittery. One wrong move and who knew what could happen to Skull. Although with the three Arcobaleno present, he was hopeful that nothing would go wrong.

Lambo was trying hard to keep up with the hitman because damn the teen was quick. He may have been shorter than Lambo but he moved fast. The guardian had bumped into quite a few people in his attempt to trail after the hitman. Some even looked at him weirdly probably wondering why he was going further inside when there was an emergency.

Nobody noticed Reborn though.

Lambo needed whatever stealth 101 class the hitman had to offer if he intended on being undetectable like a ninja. Then again, it wasn't a good idea to be taking any sort of lessons from the hitman if he wanted to keep his sanity intact. Those math lessons were already driving him crazy.

He could only dream of becoming a great hitman. Getting to work with the greatest hitman to ever grace the earth for an impromptu rescue mission counted for something right?

"Are you listening to me, Stupid Cow?" a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Er…" the guardian started.

"I said, don't get yourself killed and if you really have to, get stabbed or shot in the leg or arm. It's easier to heal."

"Um, okay…?"

Lambo had no intention of getting stabbed or shot anywhere thank you very much. Fancy the hitman being concerned with having difficulties to heal him instead of the thought of him being injured.

"I'll try not inconvenience you," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

They approached the 'Staff Only' zone, and Lambo could hear voices from inside and it sounded like all hell was breaking loose behind the door.

It was muffled but Lambo could make out Lal Mirch's annoyed remarks, "Go to hell, you piece of shit," followed by a solid whack and a thud to the floor.

Damn, they moved fast. It only had been 12 minutes since the entire start of the operation.

Reborn suddenly stopped, just a few feet away from the door and Lambo stumbled as he nearly walked right smack into him. He backed up almost immediately. Since he was taller, Reborn's fedora was just beneath his nose and he did not want to risk accidentally knocking his fedora off.

The door swung open and out flew a really buff man with tons of tattoos and bright neon green hair. He slammed against the pillar and the impact knocked the wind out of him, effectively rendering him unconscious as he plopped to the ground like a rag doll.

Colonello stepped out, flashing a toothy grin at Reborn and Lambo with a satisfied glint in his eyes.

"This is the most fun I've had in ages, _kora_!"

Fun?!

Well, since the impending threat of the apocalypse had resolved nearly 13 years ago there hadn't been any pressing issues to deal with so he sort of understood where the blond was coming from. However, fun was not a word he would use to describe this whole situation. Fun would be a trip to Mafialand where Colonello was supposed to be at because he worked there but instead, Lal and Colonello were always hanging out in Japan. It was probably a good thing otherwise, this rescue mission wouldn't at all be possible.

"Try to keep up, Reborn. I saw your sloppy work through the CCTV, _kora_ ," the former COMSUBIN soldier smirked.

Ooh, what a burn. Only the former Rain Arcobaleno would try something like that to rile the hitman up.

The guardian witnessed the slow upturn of the hitman's mouth, "If my work was sloppy, yours would be the equivalent of the work of a 5 year old tasked with finger painting. We're not here to destroy property," the hitman remarked, pointing at the dented door. It was unhinged at the top and looked pretty battered up.

"Oi, come back here and help me with these scum! Your little ego match can continue afterwards!" shouted Lal.

As she said that, another thug came flying out of the doorway and luckily for Colonello, he had ducked just in time. They sprung into action, Reborn had his gun out and Colonello had gone right back in.

Shit just got very real.

* * *

"Remind me again why you insisted on tagging along?"

"Because Skull's one of my best friends?"

"No, you wanted to prove a stupid point to me and now we're stuck in this mess," the hitman accused him.

"Can you maybe scold me later?" the guardian pouted, carefully stepping over the puddles of water and unconscious men.

In an attempt to defeat a scary looking humongous beefed up man, Lambo had used his lightning and accidentally started a mini fire, which triggered the sprinklers to come on. All of them were getting soaked to the bone and the one good thing that came out of it was the mass electrocution because of the water conducting his lightning. The bad thing was that everyone, including the three Arcobaleno, were zapped by his lightning as well. If the three of them were in pain, they were hiding it pretty well but it was no walk in the park to be struck by lightning.

"What part of no damage did you not understand, Brat?" the hitman asked, ignoring his previous request.

Reborn was even more pissed off because his expensive shoes were getting soaked. Leon had morphed into an umbrella for him so he was shielded from the water. Colonello had spotted the control panel and switched off the sprinklers along with the annoying fire alarm.

"Give him a break, Reborn. He did well. Not the best work under pressure but at least he took them all out."

Yay, Lal-san spoke up for him. He was feeling kind of touched. Normally, Lal wasn't very impressed with his antics and lack of progress during training but when he did show improvement, she would subtly comment on it and that alone was very encouraging.

There was no further response from the hitman, he probably still pissed with how things were playing out. They still hadn't found Skull and they, well he, had managed to wreck the place.

It was a total mess.

There was a noise coming from outside, it sounded like a crash and men's voices speaking in mandarin. Reborn's attention was immediately focused on the conversation and he edged towards the door to peek outside.

"Stupid Cow, stay here. Colonello, Lal, let's go. They want to transport Skull out of here."

The three of them quickly rushed out and Lambo took a peak outside through the ajar door. There was a lot of fighting going on but while the three Arcobaleno were engaged in battle, he saw a guy sneaking out with an unconscious Skull.

Shit.

"Oi, Lambo!"

He moved fast, ignoring Lal as she called out for him to stop. He mentally apologized to Lal. No one was taking Skull away, not on his watch. The man who was dragging Skull out had already turned into the corner and the guardian had to catch up before he lost him.

"Stop him!" he heard one of the men shout in Chinese.

Oh, crap, now they were coming after him. He broke into a run when he heard a gunshot. He had almost slipped and fell when he had stepped into a puddle of water. What a close call. He summoned his lightning, ready to zap the hell out of whoever got near him. He didn't really have a strategy he was just going to wing it cause most people aren't immune to lightning and that was to his advantage.

"Stop running, boy!" called out one of the men.

Okay, first of all, who in the hell would stop running just because someone told them too? Especially by the person they were running away from?

Lambo had reached the front entrance where the man who had Skull was desperately trying to get the doors to open. Skull was lying on the floor on his stomach with his arm resting at an awkward angle. Lambo thought he could see a bruise on his cheek but with the horrible lighting, he could not tell. He didn't know what the fuck came over him when he decided to charge towards the man with his lightning and tackle him to the ground. Gyuudon's behaviour was probably rubbing off on him. He had to remember that he wasn't a lightning charged bull but a very fragile human. With that man knocked out, he now had to deal with his pursuers. The adrenaline rush had him ready for anything.

The two men chasing him were starting to pile in and they had a predatory look on their face when they realised that Lambo was caught in a dead end. All of them were panting and focused on him, the guardian had involuntarily gulped. There were pools of water leftover from the sprinklers but if he used that mass electrocution technique from before, Skull would get shocked as well.

One of the men, who had a horrible undercut, stepped towards him and Lambo panicked, send a spark his way. The man let out a surprised bark and the rest took their guns out. Holy shit, he didn't want to die, he was supposed to go to a cat cafe next week!

"Let us have your friend and we won't shoot you," said Bad Haircut.

Again, did these men think he was stupid or something?

"Why do you want him anyway?"

"He has something our Boss wants and he refuses to give it to us."

" _Yare, yare_ , have you ever thought of the possibility that he doesn't have it?"

"And you do?" the man questioned, slowly edging towards him once more.

"What? No! What the hell? You guys aren't very bright are you. It's not good to have brawn and no brains, you know."

Shit, that was probably an offensive thing to say. They looked pissed.

"Chun Xiang, get the purple boy," Bad Haircut ordered, "I'll deal with this big mouth."

"Roger!"

Lambo positioned himself in front of Skull and facing Chun Xiang. Chun Xiang was shorter than him and not very muscular. He looked pretty young too, might have even be his age. How did he get involved with such bad people at that age?

Chun Xiang threw a punch which caught Lambo off guard and propelled him backwards. He tripped over Skull as he fell on his bum. Damn it, that was so lame. He held his cheek in pain, recovering from the fall.

He heard the click of gun, "Move and you'll regret," Bad Haircut threatened, "Chun Xiang, hurry up!"

Shit, no! He reached out to grab Chun Xiang's ankle causing him to fall and in that moment, the gun went off and he braced himself for the impact. He felt a stinging pain in arm and whipped his head around when he heard the wall behind him crack. A brief inspection of his arm showed that the bullet had merely grazed his arm. He was now bleeding from his arm and his cheek was throbbing in pain. He felt like crying and just wanted the mission to be over. He turned back to Bad Haircut when he heard something clattering to the ground.

"Reborn!" Lambo had never been so happy to see his sworn enemy.

"Shut up, Stupid Cow," each word was punctuated by a kick Bad Haircut's shins, stomach and when the man hunched over, a strong kick to his jaw.

He was out like a light after that. Reborn picked up the gun on the floor. Wait, was he planning on shooting him?

"Don't shoot him!" cried out Chun Xiang as he thrashed about violently, jerking his legs to be free from Lambo's hold. Lambo had dodged a kicked from Chun Xiang just in time. He didn't need another injury to his face.

He scrambled to get up and immediately headed over to the unconscious man.

" _Er ge_!" he shouted, grabbing a hold of Bad Haircut's shoulders and shaking them, he looked very distressed and almost in tears.

So Bad Haircut was his second older brother? He could see the resemblance now but Chun Xiang was better looking in Lambo's opinion. Oh boy, he probably didn't see his brother get beat up that often.

Reborn was unimpressed by the display of brotherly love and Lambo sniggered at the look on his face. The hitman glared at him as he walked towards him. He crouched down near Skull and checked his pulse. He then hovered a sun flame over the length of his body and that made Skull move a little. The purpled haired teen groaned and his head lolled from side to side before slipping back into an unconscious state.

"They've drugged him heavily."

"Shit, what did they give him?"

"I don't know, it's best that he gets medical attention and fast," Reborn fished out his mobile phone from his pocket and made call.

"Frederick? Yes, we've got him. He's drugged, I would suggest calling a medical team. Yes, he's fine too. Superficial wounds, that's all. No need, I'll heal him. Ok, thanks. Bye," and then he hung up the phone.

"Oh, Frederick asked about me?" Lambo was secretly pleased.

"Show me your arm, Stupid Cow," ignoring his question, Reborn conjured up a sun flame.

He healed the guardian's wound in silence, the only sounds coming from a whimpering Chun Xiang. Was it it first time out for a mission too? He had a horrible sense of self-preservation. Who in their right mind asks the enemy to not shoot and also turn their back towards said enemy?

"Chun Xiang?"

The whimpering stopped as the teen turned to Lambo with bloodshot eyes and a wary expression. Even Reborn was looking at the guardian questioningly.

"You should escape, you know."

"No, I'm not leaving _Er ge_."

"Well then, mind answering a few questions?"

"Brat, stop talking to him," warned Reborn in Italian.

He ignored the hitman, "Why does your boss want Skull?"

"He has something the Boss wants," he said, echoing the words of Bad Haircut from earlier.

" _Yare, yare,_ I know. Can you at least tell me what that something is?"

The teen frowned.

"Was it money?" Lambo went on to guess, 'Documents? Jewelry? Drugs?"

"I think-"

"I said, stop talking to him," Reborn interrupted, speaking in Italian again. He flicked the area on the guardian's arm he had just healed.

"Ow!" Lambo cried out, rubbing his arm and pouting at the hitman.

"Chun Xiang was it?" Reborn addressed him directly, switching to fluent Chinese, "Your brother will be fine, you should leave," he said.

The teen was hesitant, looking back and forth between his brother and the two of them.

"Now," Reborn added, his voice was firm.

Chun Xiang jumped up to his feet, took one last look at his brother and scampered off.

"Hey! Why'd you make him go?"

"If it got out that he let out information to the enemy, who knows what they would do to him."

"Oh, wow, I didn't think of that. That's awfully considerate of you," mused Lambo, "It's drugs, isn't it? He reacted a bit."

"I had gotten in touch with the Carcassa Boss on the way here. They hacked into the CCTV and found a purple haired person entering the basement where they keep the drugs. Luckily, they found footage of Skull at that particular time stamp and he's seen picking his nose on his way to the toilet. The cartel must have overlooked it."

"Yeah, they aren't all that smart."

"Don't be so quick to underestimate them. They managed to get Skull into this state," Reborn reminded him.

Lambo's mouth formed an 'O' shape, he looked towards his friend and wondered what actually happened for him to end up like that.

"I'm just glad he's fine," he smiled at Reborn, "This mission went well didn't it?" he waggled his eyebrows, pleased that it was all over.

"It was terrible," said Reborn in response. His lips were slightly quirked up though, and Lambo took that as an agreement.

* * *

The two of them were kindly given a lift back home by the Carcassa and they had to alight along the main road as they didn't want the noise to wake up the neighbours or worse, Tsuna.

He hoped I-Pin had covered for him because he had no idea how to explain himself without getting both him and Reborn in trouble. Actually, it was more important for him to save his own ass because Tsuna wouldn't dare tell the hitman off. On top of it all, his phone had died and he was sure he would be bombarded with a whole lot of texts and missed calls.

"Should I go in first or after you?"

It would be weird if they went home together at this particular hour.

The hitman ignored his question and continued walking ahead, leaving him to wonder if the hitman wanted go ahead first. Lambo slowed down his pace and eventually stopped. Their neighbourhood was creepy at night with only the sounds of crickets to fill the eerie silence. The streets lamp glowed orange, just barely providing dim lightning. It was horrible for selfies too. He didn't want to stay out too long because not only was it cold, he was also afraid of the dark and things that went bump in the night.

Reborn was already a few metres ahead of him and he was already feeling uneasy as the hitman moved further away. It didn't help that a robbery was reported just a few streets away a few weeks back. The thief was still not caught. Although, even if the thief came for him, he only had three hundred yen in in his wallet.

The thief couldn't do much with 300 yen except buy a nice melon bread for supper.

"Oi, what are you standing there for?"

Reborn's voice cut through his thoughts and he glanced up to see the hitman staring back at him.

"Won't it be awkward if we go back at the same time?"

"You standing in the middle of the road like an idiot is more awkward."

True.

The guardian gave it one last thought before jogging over to catch up with Reborn.

When they entered the Sawada Household, it was dark and quiet and not a single soul was in sight. The guardian let out a sigh of relief, he could rest easy for a few hours before the big interrogation the following morning and dying by the hitman's hands for not finishing his homework.

Speaking of which…

"Eh, Reborn," Lambo called out to him before he turned away, "Can we push back our session to 10am? I just need like 2 hours to do your worksheet. Please?" he pleaded, putting his best puppy dog eyes.

"10am is too early, I want to rest. Our session will be at 12pm instead," said Reborn, "You better get it done by then."

Hallelujah!

"Yessir!" he mock saluted, "Thanks for saving Skull," he smiled, "And for helping me of course."

"Oh, please, if you died on my watch, it would be too much of a hassle to find a new lightning guardian."

" _Yare, yare_ , just admit it. I'm the best and there's no one like me," he grinned.

The hitman turned to leave, "Tch, don't get cocky, Brat," he said, as he walked away.

"Reborn? Lambo?"

Shit, crap, holy fuck.

He turned to the hitman, hoping he would have a plan because Lambo didn't not know how to explain that he had participated on a mission to rescue his friend from a drug cartel. Reborn was silently watching Tsuna as he descended the stairs and the guardian wondered if Reborn dreaded the impending interrogation like he was.

"Oh, hello, Reborn. Are you done with your urgent meeting?"

What the hell, so the hitman already had a backup plan and only to save his own ass?!

Tsuna turned to look at him and Lambo's stomach sank when he saw the older man's face instantly appear more stern when he laid eyes on him.

"Where did you go?"

"Skull's house. I went to give him some food. You know him, always eating take out and instant stuff," he let out an awkward chuckle.

"And then?"

"Er, we kind of lost track of time and my phone died and I didn't notice if not I would have called I swear," he insisted.

"You lost track of time at the club didn't you?"

Huh? How did he know?

"We tracked your location to Fitz Spritz. Mind telling me what you were doing there when I speciafically told you not to step one foot into the club till you're legal?"

"I just wanted to have fun, ya know?" he smiled sheepishly.

"Have fun? We'll see how you have fun when you're grounded."

"Grounded?!"

"Lambo, you broke the rules. You know how things are done in this household."

The guardian pouted at his older brother, showing his best puppy dog eyes. How could Tsuna ground him during his spring spreak? It was uncalled for and unfair.

Then again, Tsuna assumed he went to the club against his wishes. Which is obviously something Lambo would do but he wouldn't be that stupid to get caught. Furthermore, this whole situation was for a noble and important cause and if the great Reborn-sama could help him out, that'd be great.

He discreetly turned to the hitman, would Reborn even bother to put in a good word for him?

"Oi, Tusna. Instead of grounding him, you should just increase our tutoring sessions, I'm quite free for the next three months. I can't believe you have such an imbecile for a guardian."

Imbecile? And more tutoring sessions?! What in the world was this bastard trying to play at? Lambo turned to Tsuna and fervently shook his head.

His older brother actually looked like he was considering it, much to his horror.

"Okay, that's settled then."

Damn it.

* * *

 **The next morning…**

Lambo had set his alarm for 8am, he was determined to finish his math paper as much as he could. He had quickly brushed his teeth and headed down for breakfast.

The atmosphere was slightly tense and nobody was talking save for the news anchor on T.V. Lambo froze as he caught sight of the headlines. 'Popular Club Fritz Spritz under investigations for drug pedaling' and the anchor had gone on to talk about the police raid.

The guardian turned to Tsuna who was regarding him closely. Lambo was fucked.

"What's going on Lambo? You came home 2.25 am. The raid happened at 1.40am. Where you caught up in it? You didn't think to mention it at all?"

"Er, we saw a police car but we didn't know it was headed towards the club."

That was true, while they drove off in the getaway van, there was a police car headed towards the direction they were coming from.

"Lambo, do you realise how serious this is? They were giving out drugs!"

"I didn't know," he frowned.

He would be lying to himself if he said he had completely no knowledge of it. Sometimes, he would get this nagging feeling at the back of his mind that something wasn't quite right when some people in the club behaved oddly and their actions appeared erratic. He remembered one of Akira's friends looking wide eyed and very disoriented, just after one drink of long island iced tea.

He ended up being very sick and missing school for a few days. The official excuse was that he had the stomach flu.

What a load of bullshit.

He didn't want to admit it back then because it would have put him in a very difficult spot. To tell the teachers or to mind his own business?

"Tsuna-nii, i really think Lambo didn't know," Fuuta spoke up.

"Whether he knew or not is irrelevant. I'm more concerned about his association with Skull because he definitely should have known. Maybe even used some himself."

"No, he didn't," Lambo said firmly, defending his friend.

What a preposterous accusation.

Tsuna frowned, "Just because you two have gotten closer doesn't mean you know everything about him. You shouldn't get too close to him, Lambo. It's dangerous."

Was his older brother really going to tell who he can and cannot make friends with?

" _Yare, yare,_ I'm not a kid anymore Tsuna-nii, I think I'm capable of choosing my friends by myself."

"This is not up for discussion. How many times do I have to tell you that drugs are dangerous and to never ever go near them?"

Urgh, Tsuna was not letting this go, "I told you, I had no idea about it."

"I don't know, you tell me. All those nights I was unaware of your nightly escapades and then I find out you go clubbing and even drink alcohol illegally. Can I trust you to tell me the truth? What were you really doing at Fritz Spritz, Lambo?" Tsuna's voice was firm and authoratative.

Crap.

Lambo wasn't talking to his Tsuna-nii anymore, instead, their conversation had turned into a full blown interrogation session with the Vongola 10th Boss.

"Do you want me to tap into the CCTVs at the night club and street? It can be arranged."

Shit, if Tsuna manages to check the CCTV footage, he would see their action packed rescue mission and it would become an even bigger issue.

Goddness, he should have just gone home yesterday night. Why was he so optimistic about the rescue mission?

"Tsu-kun, it's breakfast now. Can it wait?" Nana looked a bit worried.

Tsuna turned to his mother, "This is very serious, Mom, we don't know what other trouble Lambo could have gotten into."

"I trust Lambo, he's a good kid. He plays a lot but he knows when to behave. I don't want any mafia business at my house," she insisted.

Tsuna looked like he was about to disagree but thankfully for Lambo, the whole table was looking at him expectantly.

They heard a car pull up to the house just then, it was Gokudera waiting to drive Tsuna to work. Lambo couldn't have been more thankful for the Storm guardian's uncanny punctuality at exactly 8.33am every morning.

"Fine," said Tsuna, "I expect a proper answer when I get back from work," with that, he left the house and he didn't look too happy.

Lamb could sense the uneasiness of everyone at the table and it made him feel bad for ruining their breakfast. He grabbed a granola bar from the cupboard and quickly excused himself to his room, avoiding the questioning stares of Fuuta, Nana, and especially I-Pin. He ate while doing Reborn's math worksheet and he wondered how long it would take for the hitman to wake up. Once he was done with the math paper, he basically had nothing else to do.

He patiently waited in his room, keeping the door open so he could see or hear when the hitman came up to use the bathroom. It was a bit weird to just stare out into the hallway but Reborn was very hard to catch sometimes since he moved so silently like a ninja. His point was proven when he had just used his phone briefly, for about ten seconds, and then he looked up to see both Reborn and Leon staring at him from across the hallway. The hitman's hair was sticking out in at least twenty different directions and he was wearing his usual stripped pajamas. The hitman's hair was the very definition of a bedhead. It was cute, kind of, but that wasn't the time to be fascinated by how Reborn's bedhead seemed to defy gravity.

The guardian made sure no one else was around before motioning the hitman to come to his room. However, Reborn made no effort to move, just standing there and staring at him unblinkingly. Damn it, why did he have to be so uncooperative? He probably wasn't fully awake, Lambo should have waited till he had drank espresso before discussing anything with him.

"We're in dipshit!" he whisper-shouted.

That was the best way to summarize that morning's event.

Thanfully, Reborn looked mildly intrigued and looked around before making his way over to Lambo's room. Closing the door behind him, the hitman leaned against the wall and crossed his arms across his chest. That was probably Lambo's cue to speak.

"Fritz Spritz had a police raid for drugs and it was on the news and now Tsuna-nii wants to check the CCTVs to see what I was doing there last night."

Reborn contemplated his words for a moment, "What else did he say?"

"He asked me if _I_ doing drugs then he went all Vongola Boss on me and said he could pull strings and get CCTV footage-"

"Oi."

"-but then Nana was like 'No mafia business in this house' and then Gokudera-shi showed up-"

"Oi."

"-and Tsuna-nii turned to me and was all like 'We'll discuss this when I get back' and then he just left without saying goodbye and he was super pissed- Oh, fuck!" Lambo ducked just in time before the pillow hit him.

"What was that for?!"

"You wouldn't stop talking."

"Well yeah, I'm in panic mode here! Do you know he even suggested that Skull was using drugs and that I shouldn't be friends with him like what the fuck? And then-" Lambo cut his rant short when he noticed the hitman giving him a very murderous look.

Right, Reborn hadn't had coffee yet. Oops.

"Get dressed," he said.

"Huh? What for?"

"Tsuna won't rest till he's had an explanation so we'll give him one."

"What? Like now?"

"Yes, we'll leave for the Vongola Headquarters in 15 minutes," with that, the hitman turned around and exited the guardian's room.

It took a while to register what the teen said, "Wait! Can't we do this over the phone like normal 21st century people?" he called out to the hitman as the bathroom door closed.

" _Yare, yare_ why do old people not like to make use of technology?" he muttered under his breath.

Lambo would like to avoid the pissed off 10th Vongola Boss as much as possible.

"I heard that," came the voice of the hitman from the bathroom.

Oops.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ooh Tsuna's going to be even more pissed off xD

Hi y'all it's been a while~ School has been consuming a lot of my time so be patient with me T.T Thank you for all your lovely comments and for following this series =) See ya soon!

 _Er ge -_ Second older brother


	8. Chapter 8

**Lambo, Age 17, March**

In a record time of 14 minutes and 26 seconds, Lambo had just finished putting on his jumper, a soft grey one he had gotten as a gift from Aunt Ottavia last year for Christmas. He considered it to be his lucky jumper and he figured he was going to need all the luck he could get. He quickly grabbed his wallet and phone from his study table and fished out his Vongola Headquarters pass from the back of his drawers.

He jogged down the stairs, not bothering to step on the last step before leaping off the stairwell. He made a beeline straight to the kitchen where he found Reborn calmly sipping from his usual espresso cup. He didn't bother to look at the lightning guardian before moving to place the cup next to the sink. Only then did he turn around to acknowledge the teen.

"Not bad, just 10 seconds to spare," he said, "Usually you take 43 minutes on average."

"And you would know that why?" Lambo asked tentatively.

It was almost creepy, did he keep track of the others too?

"Observational skills are essential to any distinguished hitman, it would do you good to brush up on yours."

Lambo liked to think that he had decent observational skills, thank you very much.

Before he could respond to that Reborn cut him off, saying his goodbyes to I-Pin and Nana.

Rude.

"Oh? Where are you going?" Nana called from the living room, she and I-Pin were watching a drama, the cringey recorded audience laughter playing every three seconds.

"We've got some shopping to do, Mama," answered Reborn.

His sister eyed him suspiciously, looking back and forth between Reborn and him.

"Shopping?" Nana faced them fully now, knitting her brows in confusion.

Of course, since when did Reborn and him ever go out to do shopping together.

"He broke my vase for a prank."

Lambo had a strong urge to facepalm himself. He could have just used the codeword 'errands' to imply that they were heading out for mafia business. Although it was probably best to avoid using it because Nana tended to get worried a lot. The whole mafia thing made her uncomfortable and when she found out that Tsuna was roped into it along with Lambo and the rest, she had an ugly row with Iemitsu and they didn't speak for months. It was the first time he had seen her furious with her husband and it terrified him. Lambo thanked every higher being in existence that Nana didn't lose her temper all that often. Luckily, everything was resolved when Tsuna took her on a vacation to clear her head and placate her. Iemitsu and Nana had an impromptu honeymoon after that.

Her features adjusted into a disapproving frown, "Lambo, you shouldn't break people's things even if it was for a prank," she advised sternly as she would with a child, "Why do these two insist on being so mean to each other?" she muttered to herself, getting up from the sofa to to retrieve her bag from the counter, "Do you need money to buy the vase?"

"No need Mama, it's fine. It's my fault anyway."

"Then while you're out buy me some groceries, I have a list," she smiled, handing over the list and some cash to the guardian.

It was a numbered list with 53 items, damn it.

"Okay, Mama, will do. Have a good day, you two," Reborn tipped his fedora and walked away.

" _Ittekimasu_ ," the guardian sing-songed, kissing Nana on the cheek.

" _Itterashai_ ," Nana greeted back.

* * *

"You do realise now we'll to buy a vase and all 53 items on this list?" Lambo grumbled as they got into the taxi.

"Yes."

"You don't even keep a vase in your room won't she get suspicious?"

"Only you are nosy enough to see what's in my room. Everyone else has concept called respecting privacy," Reborn responded dryly.

Lambo respectfully refrained from talking any further, the hitman seemed like he didn't want to carry on a conversation. Apart from the constant hum of the engine and noise that filtered in from outside, the rest of the ride was spent in silence.

When they reached the headquarters, they were required to go through a customary security check. Lambo greeted the two security guards on duty and briefly exchanged niceties. The younger of the two, Kirei-san, had recently welcomed a baby girl with his wife a few weeks ago.

"Kirei-san, why aren't you on leave?" Lambo asked as Kirei hovered the metal detector all over.

"Honestly, I'm more of a hindrance than help, the man chuckled, "My mother is the one helping out."

"Okay, Reborn-sama, you're good to go," announced Yamada-san, the other security guard.

"Lambo-sama, I'll show you pictures of my baby when you're free," the new father grinned.

Lambo perked up, "Okay!"

"Have a good day," the guards bid the goodbye as Reborn and Lambo entered the lift.

Lambo waved to them as the lift doors closed and as soon as they did, Reborn pressed the button for the 23th floor and whipped out his phone to make a call.

" _Ciaossu_ , we're here. Is he there? Okay, we'll make it quick. Bye."

"Is there a plan I should know about?"

"Just let me do the talking."

"Sorry, Reborn. Because of me..." Lambo trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

"No, I expected something like this from the moment I let you get involved. But you're right, Tsuna has to stop coddling you and let you experience the mafia world for yourself."

"Did you just say I'm right," Lambo felt a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Don't let it get to your head, Stupid Cow."

He couldn't really see the expression of Reborn's face but he could imagine him rolling his eyes.

When the elevator finally came to a stop, the doors opened and Lambo spotted Yamamoto approaching them.

"What kind of trouble are you in this time?" he playfully asked.

Lambo pouted at the Rain guardian, "Big, but it's really just a misunderstanding."

Yamamoto chuckled, "Although, for Reborn to be caught up in this, it's a bit weird."

Lambo leaned in conspiratorially, "Take-nii, Reborn is generally weird," he whispered, once the hitman had walked ahead.

Yamamoto's lips curled up a bit.

"I heard that."

"It was meant for you to hear."

"Stupid Cow, remind me again _who_ we're here for?"

"Me, thank you very much," the lightning guardian flashed a cheeky grin, he didn't want to piss the hitman off but it was fun to annoy him.

"Hmm, you two are being awfully friendly to each other," observed Yamamoto.

"We're not," the two of them replied in unison.

The Rain guardian let out a surprised bark of laughter and shook his head, "Come on, let's catch Tsuna before he leaves for the meeting."

They tread down the empty hallways, each step made Lambo even more nervous to face his older brother. They finally stopped outside a frosted glass door, and the rain guardian gave it two knocks before opening the door at Tsuna's beckoning.

The brunet looked up from the blue file he was reading through and looked at them questioningly. Lambo desperately wanted to leave with Yamamoto when he excused himself.

Nobody spoke for a good ten seconds.

"There has been a terrible misunderstanding between the two of you," Reborn started.

"And? Are you here to play mediator? I think I would know how to sort things out with my own guardian."

Sassy Tsuna was not a good sign.

"Allow me to say my piece before deciding that for yourself," the hitman responded without missing a beat.

While Reborn related the tale of their little rescue mission from last night, Tsuna mostly had a look of incredulity on his face. Many a times he appeared to have wanted to argue or interrupt but had held himself back. Reborn had conveniently left out the part where Lambo had almost gotten shot at. Good call.

The brunet folded his arms across his chest and frowning in thought, "You mean to tell me you brought him with you just because he asked?"

"I can be very persuasive?" Lambo weakly shared his input.

Tsuna's gaze snapped towards him, "You could have gotten hurt Lambo, what were you thinking?

"I was with the Strongest Hitman Alive you know, I got a little bit of a confidence boost," he smiled sheepishly.

It was true, no matter how apprehensive he was about the whole thing, the fact that Reborn was there with him gave a him a sense of relief. He might dislike the hitman and his holier-than-thou attitude 80% of the time but even he had to admit that his rival was ridiculously strong and was the absolute best at what he does.

Tsuna still didn't look convinced and that was expected, he was a bit of a worry wart anyway. Just like his mother.

He pinched his forehead, rubbing it a little. Lambo had seen him do it a lot more often since he took over as the Tenth. The lightning guardian felt a little guilty for troubling him.

"There's a reason why I don't let you go on missions and that's because you still have a long way to go. It isn't a game, Lambo."

"I'm sorry, Tsuna-nii," he sincerely apologized.

The guardian knew he was very underprepared for the mafia world in general and he wouldn't have survived yesterday's events without the three Arcobaleno. He was lucky Reborn appeared in time to thwart the gunshot. He sucked at physical defence and the only workable talent he had was his lightning and even then it couldn't always be used in every circumstance.

"I'm sorry too, for accusing you like that."

Tsuna and Lambo shared a small smile and just like that, everything was fine between them.

"And you," he turned to Reborn, "I have absolute faith that you'll keep him safe but if there's anything he's involved in, you have to let me know first."

"Duly noted," said the hitman.

"Good. So, about the drug cartel..." he trailed off, expecting Reborn to offer further explanation.

"You don't have to investigate them, the Carcassa are on it," informed the hitman.

"Right, I'm quite surprised they even managed to subdue Skull."

"He was caught off guard. The Lackey is next to useless when he's in panic mode."

Lambo and Tsuna nodded in agreement.

"How is he though?" Tsuna enquired.

"The medical team cleared the drug from his system hours ago but he hasn't woken up yet."

The drug in question was similar to heroin, dubbed as the 'Marshmallow' drug. It was a white powder and the reason for the name was because they used the drug to coat marshmallows when they sold it. Lambo had seen it a lot during his clubbing days and someone even attempted to sell a packet of marshmallows to him but he never bought them because a packet of six large marshmallows was 30,000 yen. It was ridiculously expensive and he thought it was some weird luxury marshmallow gimmick. He would have never guessed that it contained drugs. A pretty smart idea, which was how the drug cartel had avoided getting caught. The real owner of the club was in debt with some loan sharks and was coerced into letting them use the space to run their side business.

"Are you guys gonna go visit him after this?"

"Unfortunately, this genius," Lambo pointed to Reborn, "told Mama we're going shopping and she gave us a grocery list with 53 items. So we kinda have to go back asap."

While they were at it, they had to pick up a vase too. At first, he thought of the bright, neon yellow vase he had seen at the department store a few days back but because the hitman had graciously saved his ass twice, he would settle for something that was not as much of an eyesore. Lambo was going to pick the most odd looking vase he could get his hands on, finding satisfaction in the fact that it would stick out like a sore thumb. That would probably annoy the hitman to no end.

Tsuna's eyes crinkled when he chuckled, "Good luck."

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 18, May**

Just a day into being 18 saw Lambo regretting his decision to party hard at the club the night before his birthday. He woke up with the biggest headache of the century and his mouth tasted like death.

The guardian let his eyes adjust to his dark surroundings, he didn't recognize it for a moment until he heard the tell tale snore of his purpled haired friend next to him.

He didn't remember much but he thanked their past selves for making decision of heading to Skull's house instead. Tsuna would have grounded him for a long time if he had been caught drinking. His older brother wasn't dumb, he probably knew that the guardian was going to disobey him anyway but because Lambo didn't go home, it became some sort of a Schrodinger's situation. If Tsuna never saw him, he may or may not have drank alcohol.

It was a brilliant idea, not at all bad for his inebriated self to think of.

The guardian felt for his phone inside his pocket, squinting when the bright light pierced his eyes.

The time was 4.35am, which meant that he had only been sleeping for an hour plus. Urgh, he was physically and mentally not ready to start the morning, nor did he have the willpower to get up from the bed. However, his head was pounding and if he could just find something to ease the pain it might just help a little bit.

Lambo hoisted himself up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, the duvet was soft and warm under his hands, versus the cold, hard tiles beneath his sock clad feet.

Skull let out an obnoxious snore, loud enough to make to make him wince. That was enough motivation to get out of the room.

He stumbled over something when he got up to walk, and he let out a surprised yelp before steadying himself on the nearby wall. He glanced at his friend, hoping his little outburst hadn't woken him up.

Nope, still snoring away.

Man, Reborn was right, Skull can be a very easy target. Even though the kidnapping was two months ago, a lot of time seemed to have passed since then. Skull had bounced back to his normal self as soon as he had woken up from the drug induced haze. He and I-Pin had tried talking to him but Skull had reassured him that he was fine. Unconvinced, Lambo reluctantly sought Reborn's help because he thought Skull wouldn't want to discuss anything with a bunch of kids.

Reborn had unhelpfully scoffed and said not to bother, Skull's talent was to bounce back no matter what adversity.

Only in a physical sense, Lambo had argued, what about mentally?

We're all used to it, the hitman had said solemnly and left Lambo standing in the hallway feeling oddly disturbed.

He decided to leave the matter alone, because he didn't want to force anything on Skull. His only consolation is that the purpled haired teen had gotten his home security upgraded and it was harder to break into. Maybe that was why he could sleep so soundly.

Lambo used the walls to guide him out of Skull's room and into the kitchen. How long did he have to wait before taking painkillers anyway? It had only been two hours since his last shot.

Google gave him varying answers from 'stay the hell away from drugs if you don't want to die' to 'after 3-4 hours'.

Damn it, that was too long.

He'd have to do it the Italian way which was a strong shot of espresso. Skull didn't have a coffee machine because according to him, they were too complicated to operate. 7-11 was the only store open at this hour, but their coffee sucked terribly.

Lambo decided to head home after leaving a note and a glass of water on Skull's bedside table.

He was home in matter of 20 minutes, just a little after 5am. The roads were not that packed because peak hour usually began at 6.30am. The taxi driver practically whizzed through the traffic lights and Lambo was standing in front of the Sawada Household before he could even register that the ride was over. The car ride made him feel worse though, why did taxi drivers like to drive like they were in Fast and Furious?

Lambo quietly entered the house, and froze when he spotted a faint light coming from the kitchen. Shit, he thought, who could have been up at this hour? He could potentially slip past the kitchen and go upstairs but he desperately needed pain meds. He should probably keep a stash in his room to avoid a situation like this in the future.

He crept up to the entrance of the kitchen, peeking inside. Unmoving onyx eyes locked with his own emerald green, startling the crap out of him.

" _Dios mio_ , Reborn, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"You're welcome," the bastard's face showed just a tiny bit of amusement.

He was still in his pajamas, blue and white striped, hair sticking out all over the place. Leon was on his shoulder, looking a little sleep rumpled. He was struggling to stay awake, the poor thing. The lightning guardian felt his heart melt a little. What an adorable sight it was. Lambo would have loved to take a picture of the little green chameleon but he doubt the owner would let him.

"What are you doing?" Lambo asked as he entered the kitchen, he guessed the hitman had somewhere to be if he was up that early.

"I could ask you the same thing, you look like shit."

Lambo gave him the best glare he could manage, "Looking for coffee and pain meds."

"It's not wise to mix caffeine, alcohol, and painkillers."

He was aware of that, his little search on Google said the same thing.

"I'm not wise when I'm hungover. Just anything to make this pain go away," he sighed, rummaging through the cabinet where Nana kept all the medications.

" _Caffe doppio_ ," the hitman supplied.

" _Yare, yare_ , I do want to sleep you know."

A double shot espresso would probably keep him till noon and they were all going out for his birthday dinner in the evening.

"Suit yourself," the hitman went back to reading the newspaper.

His head started to throb when a bird started crowing. It rang in his ears, long after the blasted bird had stopped. At this point he welcomed any suggestions so he abandoned his search for painkillers and fiddled with the coffee machine.

The lightning guardian had barely resisted the urge to moan out loud the instant the aroma of freshly dispensed coffee hit his nostrils. It made him a bit more alert, the grogginess slowly creeping out of him. The cup was hot so he carefully carried it to the dining table while blowing at the steam.

"Anything interesting in the news?" he asked, pulling a chair out to sit.

"Not particularly."

Lambo hummed noncommittally, reading the front page news as Reborn flipped through the rest of the paper.

Every few seconds the hitman would flip a page, obscuring the front page article from his view.

"Hold still for a while, I'm trying to read," he eventually said, a bit irritated.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at him, "What's so interesting about a 0.2% drop in birth rates?"

"Means the government might put in more baby bonus to encourage people to make babies."

"Not that you would benefit from it, given your... _circumstance_."

Was circumstance the new code word for gay?

"I think it's unfair I can't have any babies because of my... _circumstance,_ " he parroted the hitman's earlier words.

"You want children."

If he was surprised that the guardian even wanted kids, he didn't show it.

"I have no idea, to be honest," the guardian shrugged, "They're cute and all but can be the spawn of satan when they throw tantrums."

"Speaking for yourself?" Reborn smirked.

Leon flicked his tongue out in agreement. The traitor, he wasn't adorable anymore.

"Ouch. I admit, I was a bit of a handful-"

"Just a bit?"

"Fine, I was a nightmare but I'm better now."

The hitman was still mildly amused, "Whatever you say, Stupid Cow."

The guardian immaturely stuck his tongue out at the hitman, and went back to sipping his coffee. Once he was done, he washed his cup and took his leave.

"See ya later," he gave a little wave.

"Oi," the hitman called as he was about to head up the stairs.

Lambo turned his head, raising an eyebrow in question.

" _Buon compleanno_ ," the hitman nodded in greeting.

Lambo felt a little smile playing on his lips, " _Grazie_ , Reborn."

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 18, October**

The guardian was in a bit of an awkward dilemma.

Over the past couple of months, he had been aware of himself noticing Reborn a lot more than usual. It all started during an ordinary math session over the summer holidays. The hitman had been droning on and on about calculus and integrals and Lambo had zoned out five minutes into it. I-Pin had been busy taking down notes, if one could even take down notes for math. Who did that? I-Pin, apparently.

Their mock tests were coming up and in order to prepare for the university entrance exams, I-Pin had been studying a lot and there was never moment anyone would catch her skiving off. It was scary how focused and driven she was. Lambo did feel the stress and pressure but he didn't dedicate almost 6 hours a day to study. In some ways he admired her hard work but he was worried for her most of the time.

She had been hanging to every word Reborn was saying and penning them down furiously on her paper. Lambo on the other hand had let his mind drift off, when the hitman's voice suddenly changed. It went low for a bit, soothing his ears before reverting annoying nasal voice he was used to.

Never had the guardian expected Reborn to break his voice. Then again, since the Arcobaleno were sort of going through puberty again, he should have seen it coming. Reborn was the only oddball to have a baby voice compared to the others. It shouldn't have come as big shock to Lambo, a 10th grade biology student, that Reborn's voice would eventually break.

However, there he was fascinated by his rival's voice and selectively tuning in whenever Reborn spoke. It was smooth and deep and even if it went an octave higher on certain words, it wasn't unpleasant. It would sometimes distract him from whatever the hitman was saying and that left him embarrassed once he realised it.

If Reborn had noticed Lambo looking at him a lot recently, he hoped the hitman would attribute it to him plotting an elaborate plan to finally defeat him.

How awkward would it be if he demanded an explanation for Lambo's stalker-ish behaviour?

'Hey, I love your voice but also don't think I like you because I will defeat you one day mwahahaha.'

Which was why Lambo was even more mortified when his fixation on Reborn's voice developed into an interest in Reborn himself. Lambo started noticing little things about Reborn he hadn't bothered to learn before.

Did anybody else see how the hitman was finally losing the baby fats on his cheeks?

Did anyone else notice how Reborn had switched up his hairdo to exclude two spikes on either side?

It looked way better now, in Lambo's opinion.

Did anyone else notice Reborn had three degrees of raised eyebrows ranging from 'what' to 'are you fucking kidding me'.

Lambo had been the receiving end of Eyebrow #3 a whole lot.

And to demonstrate that, was his current predicament where he had stupidly asked Reborn to repeat the entire concept he had been explaining for the past hour simply because he wasn't paying attention.

"Nevermind," Lambo hastily added, "I'm sure I'll figure it out as I do the paper."

"Thank you, Reborn-san," I-Pin smiled at the hitman, "Same time on Wednesday, yeah?"

Reborn made a noise of agreement and headed towards the basement where his room was.

"The heck, Lambo?" I-Pin questioned as soon as the hitman closed the door.

"What?"

Oh, he knew what.

"Reborn-san is very kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to teach us and all you can do is say _er_ _, I don't get it can you repeat_?" I-Pin imitated his earlier question.

"But I really don't get it…" he tried in vain to defend himself.

"That's cause you weren't paying attention!" she snapped.

"Sorry, I just- my mind's somewhere else."

Somewhere it shouldn't be.

"Focus, Lambo. We don't have much time left. I know your aunt doesn't like your first choice for university but she'll come around so just do the best you can okay?"

His aunt what? Oh, I-Pin thought he was worried about his aunt. Ottavia didn't like that he wanted to pursue Events Management in Namimori University. She wanted him to come back to Italy and do engineering at his parents' alma mater. His aunt should probably see how much he sucked at math, there was absolutely no way he could do engineering math.

"Yeah," Lambo lied.

There was no way he was ever going to tell I-Pin about his ridiculous obsession with Reborn's voice. She would laugh in his face. Who got a crush on the very person they swore to defeat?!

If he could hurry up and find himself a boyfriend, that'd be great. Lambo hoped that by putting out good vibes the universe would be kind enough to send a boyfriend his way.

"Eligible college boys, here comes Lambo-san," he thought to himself.

* * *

Hello everyone, Happy Belated New Year~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I wanted Lambo to see Reborn in a different light and not the annoying baby he was used to. Slowly Reborn will grow back into his badass self, in terms of appearance anyway but I have to say he does make one badass baby. He was probably the inspiration for The Boss Baby.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Greetings everyone~ I'm so sorry for the irregular uploads, I've been really busy recently and I wanted to get a chapter out in time for our beloved cow's birthday haha. This chapter will be snippets of Lambo's life after high school =)

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 18, February**

"The letters are here!" Fuuta announced excitedly.

The lightning guardian felt uneasy and eager all at once. After years of studying for the single, most grueling day of a high school student's life, it was finally time for the anxious applicants to know if they had gotten into the university of their choice. Everyone in the Sawada Household was sitting down to have breakfast and they were joined by Bianchi and Shamal. The couple was in town for Shamal's birthday and Nana had insisted they stay over before flying out for their holiday to Korea. It was just like old times to have Bianchi living with them but this time I-Pin had to share a room with Nana. His sister had gotten used to the luxury of having a room to herself and Lambo could tell she wasn't pleased with the arrangement. It was just for a few days so she would just have to bear with it.

"Oh, don't look like that you two," the 4th year medical student smiled encouragingly, "I'm sure you guys did fine."

Easy for him to say. Fuuta was ridiculously smart and he always scored excellent grades. He was pretty much an all-rounder in high school. As expected, he had gotten outstanding results for his medical school entrance exam but unfortunately, he wasn't the valedictorian for the first years. The competition in his medical school was insane but he still managed to survive three years and he had three more to go, including this year.

"Romeo had that face when he tried my chocolate cake for the first time," said Bianchi, "I was personally offended but then again, that uncultured swine couldn't tell the difference between gourmet and garbage if his life depended on it."

Shamal snorted in amusement, "To be fair, he did die from your poison- oof" he was abruptly cut off and his face twisted in pain.

"Come on you two, open it!" Nana was just as eager as Fuuta was.

I-Pin looked like she was going to be sick, "Somebody open it for me, I don't want to look."

Lambo nodded in agreement.

Nana huffed out a little laugh, taking one of the two cream coloured envelopes from Fuuta, "Okay then Fuuta will open Lambo's and I'll open I-Pin's. Ready?"

Both high school students squeezed their eyes shut and crossed their fingers. The wait was torturous and long as he heard the sound of paper being torn. He sneaked a peek with an eye open, trying to gauge their reactions. Nana's was easy to read, she could barely contain her pride as she nodded an affirmation.

He heard a gasp next to him, "Yes!" his sister hissed quietly.

Fuuta, on the other hand, kept a poker face as he scanned through the letter. Shit, that couldn't be a good sign. The blond held the paper out for him to take but Lambo shook his head.

"I really don't wanna read it, Fuuta-nii. Yes or no?" He wouldn't be able to bear the overly polite language of the university rejecting him and insincerely wishing him good luck for his future.

"I think you should find out for yourself," the blond suggested calmly.

The lightning guardian shifted his gaze towards the other occupants of the dining table. They were all looking at him expectantly. He wiped his sweaty palm on his pants and reached out to retrieve the document from Fuuta. His hand trembled slightly as he did so. He gulped, eyes skimming over the return address and contact information of Namimori University administrative department at the top right-hand corner before seeing the familiar words of his full name right after the salutation.

 _'Dear Mr. Lambo D'Alberto,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Namimori University's School of Business and Finance to undertake the Bachelor's Degree programme in Business Management commencing in April.'_

Hold on a minute.

Lambo reread the same sentence and scanned the rest of the letter. There were a 'congratulations' towards the end and a 'visit our website for further details and to confirm your enrollment.'

Holy fucking shit. He was sporting a cheek-splitting grin by now.

"Fuuta-nii! Why'd you look so serious, oh my god!"

The lightning guardian turned to his sister and pulled her into a tight hug, "We got in!" he cheered.

He could hear a few applauses and congratulatory wishes from his family.

I-Pin broke the embrace to address Reborn, "Thank you, Reborn-san, we couldn't have done it without you."

The hitman had been observing them with a disinterested expression, probably wanting to know the outcome of all their rigorous tuition sessions. There was no way a student would fail under his watch, he had declared confidently when Lambo was moping around the house and so close to losing his mind after the exams. Lambo did not miss the tutoring sessions. In fact, he was relieved the exams were over and done with because he didn't have to spend any extra time with the meanie hitman tutor and that the weird emptiness he was feeling was because he had nothing to do anymore. He did not miss Reborn at all.

The hitman nodded in acknowledgment, and then shifted his eyes over to Lambo. The guardian momentarily blanked out before stuttering out a few words of gratitude. He felt like he could finally breathe when the hitman turned his attention back to the morning paper. Thankfully his little awkward display had gone unnoticed and forgotten as soon as Nana made plans to go out for a big celebratory dinner later that night.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 19, June**

It had been over two months since Lambo had started university. It went against his Aunt Ottavia's wishes but he knew that if he took engineering instead, it would have been a massive disaster. His aunt had hoped for him to come back to Italy and pursue his higher education at his parents' alma mater, one of the top colleges in Sicily. Unfortunately, Lambo was not gifted with the brains to do so. He was still in awe that he miraculously got into Namimori University at all. He had to begrudgingly admit that he couldn't have done it without Reborn's help.

Things had been awkward since Lambo had developed a bit of a crush on the hitman. Actually, it was Lambo who made it awkward by making it his life mission to avoid being in close proximity to Reborn. If the hitman had noticed his bizarre behaviour, he was polite enough to not call him out on it. Or he didn't care. The guardian might have been avoiding him but he made sure to properly thank the hitman with a note and a present he had bought with I-Pin. He wasn't an ingrate after all.

The freshman had taken to studying in the library with I-Pin once or twice a week to review his lectures or do his homework. At first, it was an excuse to stay out of the house to avoid a certain someone but he found that it helped. He was completely lost the first few weeks but I-Pin had managed to explain stuff to him and then he got the hang of it. However, on that particular Friday, he was all alone with his best friend nowhere to be found. She had to cover for another part-timer at the ramen shop and Lambo knew that if he went home that day, he would never get any work done.

Lambo was struggling with his homework and it was incredibly frustrating as all his notes didn't give any clues or hints to help him along. He tried texting the class chat but his classmates were stumped by the questions too. The goddamn assignment was due on Monday, first thing in the morning and the guardian hadn't even written anything. He read through the questions and analysed them again. Somehow he was supposed to do up a chart based on the statistics given but he had no idea where to start. The guardian sighed for the hundredth time since he had sat down and rubbed his arms, blowing into his freezing cold palms to warm it up a little. He glanced around the library, it was mostly empty and the people were really into studying. He wondered if he should just go back home and ask Gokudera for help. The man was a genius but he didn't know if the storm guardian would be free to help him. Perhaps he should just go home, staring at a blank spreadsheet was not very productive.

Lambo rubbed his face and tied his hair into a small little ponytail before packing up his notes. He was about to shut down his laptop when the chair beside him pulled out and for a split second, he thought it was I-Pin. He looked up to see a man in a black polo t-shirt and short black hair settling down in the seat next to him. The guardian was confused since there were so many empty seats around but the man specifically chose to sit next to him.

"Hi, sorry. My laptop is dying and the charging port is next to you," he smiled apologetically, "Do you mind?"

Lambo was pleasantly surprised by how handsome the man looked when he smiled as his resting features were not particularly that attractive. The guardian nodded before realising what the question was and shook his head instead. The man chuckled a little and the guardian had to remind himself that he had a voice and that he could speak.

"I don't mind. I can help you plug it into the socket," he offered.

The man thanked him with a smile and set about to do his work. With a person next to him, Lambo was basically stuck in his seat and he fiddled with his sweater awkwardly before taking out his notes and reading it again for the 15th time.

He tried typing out the data and making a different kind of chart but nothing worked and the guardian was getting very irritated. He sighed, backspacing the entire thing. Perhaps he might have been a little too loud.

"Everytime you sigh, a little bit of your happiness goes away," he heard the man say in a quiet voice.

"Oh, sorry, am I bothering you?"

"No," the man reached out his hand, "I'm Kitagawa Daisuke, a senior from the business department."

The guardian was not expecting the man to introduce himself and he was momentarily caught off guard before he remembered his manners. He shook the man's hand and introduced himself.

"You speak very good Japanese for an international student."

Lambo chuckled a bit, that was what everybody else thought, "I was raised here."

He could tell Kitagawa was really surprised but he recovered from it, apologising for assuming things. The man then asked where he was born and Lambo told him that he was from Sicily but came to Japan because he had relatives here.

It was not exactly a lie, he had a _famiglia_ so that has to count.

The senior had then noticed his work and volunteered to help him out. Turns out he knew how the various equations and formulas to create the chart and even helped to improve his notes a little bit, penning down information that might be useful to him in the future. He patiently explained to him the parts where Lambo had troubles with and coached him through his homework. Lambo had fervently thanked the senior when they were done. The guardian counted his lucky stars thinking that the higher beings above had really sent him a homework angel who had a very kind smile along with his gentle personality. He left the library with a big smile on his face, humming the entire way home. After dinner, his best friend had pulled him into her room and asked why he was acting so weird. He very nearly giggled like a 5-year-old kid when he told her about Kitagawa Daisuke and how he had been a very big help with his homework.

"Was he good looking or something? Why are you so happy?" I-Pin eyed him suspiciously.

"Or something. I wouldn't say he's very good looking but he has a certain charm."

His sister smiled mischievously, "Oh, somebody sounds charmed."

After teasing him for a while, she became more serious and asked if the man was straight. Lambo shrugged, he didn't know. Besides, he probably was not going to see him again.

"Don't say that. If it's meant to be, you'll meet 2 more times," she grinned.

Lambo rolled his eyes in amusement, "What happens if he's straight or not interested?"

I-Pin shushed him and told him that if he strongly desires something, the universe will conspire to make it happen. She must have been watching those motivational documentaries again.

And Lambo did meet the man again or Daisuke-senpai as he preferred to be addressed by. They met five more times in fact, with each meeting lasting longer than the last and full of interesting conversations about tv shows, traveling, and everything under the sun. The senior was also a lifesaver when it came to his homework. They had also exchanged contact details when they had met for the third time, and I-Pin kept giving him knowing looks once she found he might have asked the Homework Gods to send the Homework Angel to him again. And it worked, surprisingly. The most trying part was that with every meeting with Daisuke-senpai, the more he wanted to see the man again. He was drawn to the man, attracted to the way the man talked, his gentle mannerisms, and most importantly, his smile.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 19, July**

Towards the end of July, on the senior's 24th birthday, the guardian had wished him by calling him at midnight and they talked on the phone for a while before going to bed. Lambo decided he liked hearing the senior's voice when he was sleepy. A few days after that, Daisuke-senpai had casually asked him out on a date over one of their library sessions. Lambo was drinking water at that time and promptly spit it out and he knew his face was as red as a tomato as he wiped the table and dabbed the tissue on his notes. Luckily, the senior simply chuckled and told him that he was very cute, and the guardian was too embarrassed to look him in the eye. He had also smiled till his cheeks hurt on the way home. He could barely contain his happiness during dinner and he didn't mean to hide it from his family when they asked him what happened. He just thought that since his last relationship was a total flop, he could keep it low key till he was sure Daisuke-senpai and he were in a more serious relationship. That was all there is to it. He had sneaked into I-Pin's room later that night to tell her the news. He could never keep anything from her of course.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 19, August**

When the summer holidays rolled in, it was time for Daisuke-senpai to start his internship and regretfully they could not spend as much time together. Thankfully, they could still text each other during the day and meet after the senior ended work. Lambo had taken to hanging out with his university coursemates and occasionally go out clubbing when Skull was in town. The summer holidays was also a time for him to head over to Italy for a while.

Lambo was originally supposed to spend two weeks at the Bovino Mansion but his visit was cut short to just a few days when he had another argument with Aunt Ottavia regarding his university studies. The guardian, not wanting to be the cause of her bad mood had taken off for the Vongola Mansion the very next morning. It was hard to say goodbye and it hurt when his Aunt did not even want to acknowledge his departure. To his relief, the Vongola Boss had not pried when he showed up for lunch that afternoon, although he could tell the other guardians were itching to ask why he was back so early.

That night, he was in the kitchen emptying a carton of chocolate milk and stuffing his face with leftover tiramisu. Nonna would have his head the next morning but he did not care. He was sad, angry, and he missed his boyfriend very much. The guardian slumped onto the kitchen table, he was exhausted from the long drive back to the Vongola Mansion but he couldn't seem to sleep. He heard the coffee machine whirring a while later but did not bother getting up as he knew that it was probably Reborn. The hitman just had to go somewhere else to drink his coffee because he was there first. Which was why he was confused when kept smelling the espresso even after the coffee machine had stopped dispensing. He looked up from the table to see the hitman scrolling through his phone.

"I'm not going anywhere," the guardian sulkily declared.

"I didn't say you have too," the hitman replied without looking up from his phone, "You're back early."

Oh boy, they were going to have this conversation. Lambo frowned and took another sip of chocolate milk, so much for moping alone he thought.

"Nothing interesting really, I fought with my aunt about uni."

"Is that so?"

"Yup," he said, popping the 'p', "I can't seem to convince her that I'm not cut out for engineering. Maybe you should tell her that I'm terrible at math."

"Might I remind you who taught you math, Stupid Cow? You might have been terrible but now you're mediocre at best."

"Gee, thanks, a B grade is mediocre?" the lightning guardian grumbled.

From a low-end F grade to a high-end B grade was a very big improvement. The hitman was just picking on him, the meanie.

Reborn ignored him and went on, "It would do you good to clearly convey that your interest lies outside of engineering."

" _Yare, yare_ , I did, but she's just so stubborn. She keeps thinking that I'll come back to Italy and stay in the Bovino Mansion for the rest of my life if I study here."

Not that there was anything wrong with the Bovino Mansion but he was so used to staying with the Sawadas in Japan that he had never once thought about settling down in Italy. Tsuna had even worked out the whole working from Japan thing so it just didn't cross his mind to even consider moving back.

Reborn looked like he was going to say something but Lambo's phone started ringing and it was the ringtone that he had assigned to his boyfriend. He quickly apologised to the hitman before answering the call.

"Hello, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

It was 1.43am in Italy which meant that it was 8.43am in Japan. Daisuke-senpai's work started at 9, but interns were usually required to come in early and start work first.

The senior chuckled a bit before answering, "And you're supposed to be asleep."

"I will, later. Hang up before you get in trouble, Mr. Intern."

He could hear him laughing again. The guardian sighed, hearing his boyfriend's voice really did make him feel better. His boyfriend mockingly scolded him for sighing, repeating the words he had said to him the first time they had met.

"I beg to differ," Lambo grinned, "I'm very happy right now."

"Oh, really?"

The guardian hummed in agreement, "And I'll be even happier if my boyfriend doesn't get scolded for making personal calls during work."

"Okay, okay. I'll hang up. Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"Yes, sir," he said playfully, "Bye bye, senpai. Don't let your co-workers bully you."

His boyfriend chuckled again, "Bye, Lambo-kun. Rest well," and he ended the call after that.

The guardian smiled at his phone and giggled to himself. He stopped when he remembered that Reborn was still in the kitchen.

"Sorry, you were saying?"

"Talk to your aunt. You'll get nowhere if you're being wishy-washy about your future," the hitman bluntly said.

The guardian protested, "I'm not being wishy-"

"The fact that you came here straight without settling things tells me plenty. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to be. Good night," the hitman moved to place his cup in the sink and was out of the kitchen before Lambo could formulate an argument to counter his accusation.

At least Leon had flicked his tongue goodbye, unlike his rude owner.

Argh, stupid Reborn. He didn't have to phrase it like that. Lambo was serious about his future. Studying business and events could help him out a lot in the mafia world since he probably had to deal with people regularly. He didn't pick it simply because it was not engineering. He had carefully contemplated the pros and cons before applying for the course. Plus the university fees were no joke since I-Pin and Lambo were technically foreigners. He wouldn't waste Tsuna's money for no reason.

His sour mood dissipated when he received a cute text from his boyfriend, reminding him to sleep early. Smiling to himself, Lambo tidied up the kitchen before heading up to his bedroom. He didn't know what to do about his aunt but Reborn had a point about leaving things hanging. The lightning guardian resolved to put an end to the issue before he left for Japan.

* * *

 **Lambo, Age 19, October**

When school started, the guardian had even lesser time to meet up with his boyfriend. His study sessions with I-Pin did help but he really missed the ones when Daisuke-senpai was with him. When he complained that he did not see his boyfriend enough, the senior had invited him back to his place after dinner, one day. It was the very first time he had ever been to his apartment and he bought a box of pastries as a gift, from Chen's bakery of course. They had the best cream puffs.

He looked around the flat, noticing that it was not personalised as much, as if the man had just moved in. It was in an area where rich people lived and wondered if Daisuke-senpai was from a rich family. Not that it mattered to him, even if he was, the man did not flaunt his status. There was a family photograph hanging on the wall and when he asked, his boyfriend seemed a little bit hesitant to introduce his family. There was his senior, his two younger brothers, his sister, his grandmother, and both of his parents. The entire family was not smiling, it was a very serious and formal photo. He had hugged his boyfriend when he saw the man solemnly staring at the photograph.

"We were forced to take this photo, my siblings and I. We had to travel all the way back to our hometown within 24 hours once our parents told us about it. None of us were happy. Can you tell we aren't close to our parents?"

"Don't be sad, Senpai. I understand how it feels like to not be close to your birth family," he patted the man's back.

He felt his boyfriend, turned to pull him into a hug, "Sorry, Lambo-kun. I'm probably not being a very good host right now."

Lambo reassured the man that it was alright and held him close for a while. When his boyfriend pulled away, he smiled before capturing his lips in a soft kiss. Things got a little bit heated as they moved things to the bedroom. Lambo had experienced this before with Akira and knew what the other man might have in mind. He still was a bit uncomfortable with having the idea of going all the way so he stopped his boyfriend.

"What's wrong?" the man looked at him concernedly.

"Sorry, senpai. I really like you and everything but I don't think I'm ready," he explained.

He felt a bit bad when Daisuke-senpai's face fell a bit but he smiled reassuringly after that.

"It's okay. I don't want to do anything that you're not comfortable with."

Relieved, Lambo let out a shaky breath, "Thank you. I'm not opposed to kissing though," he smiled suggestively.

The man mirrored his expression and the guardian pushed his boyfriend to lean against the headboard as he straddled him and sealed their lips together. Lambo mouthed at the man's neck, leaving a hickey on the skin beneath his collared shirt. He was mindful to not give him any visible marks even though he really wanted to.

"I'm all up for intense making out sessions, but I feel like I should stop right here if you don't want to go any further," came the strained voice of his boyfriend.

The guardian hastily got off the poor man, "Oops, I'm sorry!" he could feel the flush creeping up his neck.

The man chuckled, "It's fine, do you wanna watch T.V.?" Daisuke-senpai grabbed the remote from his nightstand and switched on the television, flipping through the channels till he found something he wanted to watch.

It was a boring documentary about the life of busy bees.

The next morning, Lambo had woken up to an empty bed and light streaming into the room. Daisuke-senpai was long gone but he left a note by the bedside table telling him that he had to leave for work and for Lambo to eat breakfast before leaving for his classes. The guardian checked the clock to see that it was 9.15am. His classes were at 11 so he still had some time before he had to leave. There was also a set of keys next to the note and Lambo's cheeks almost hurt from how hard he was smiling. His boyfriend had actually given him a set of keys!

"He's being practical you idiot. How else are you going to get out," he reminded himself.

The man was so considerate, he could have woken Lambo up while he was getting ready for work but he did not. He ventured outside after cleaning up a little in the bathroom and saw that the dining table had a simple spread of rice and miso soup along with a tofu side dish. So his boyfriend knew how to cook. He looked through the cupboards and fixed himself a cup of green tea. He gleefully tucked in, ready to get some food in his rumbling tummy. The food was nice but nothing beat Nana's cooking.

Oh, shit.

The guardian immediately rummaged his bag and fished out his phone. There were several missed calls and a dozen over messages, mostly from Tsuna and Fuuta. He had only told I-Pin and Skull that he was going over to his boyfriend's place. He called his older brother first because he didn't want the brunet to mobilize an entire squad to come looking for him.

"Lambo, where did you go?"

The guardian earnestly apologized and told him that he was at a friend's place and had forgotten to call home.

"Just a friend?"

Damn the Vongola Boss' hyper intuition.

Lambo chuckled a bit before answering, "His name is Kitagawa Daisuke and he's a senior at my university. He's 24, studying in the business department, and," he paused for a bit, "we've been dating since the end July."

"That long and you never brought him home? Afraid that we will scare him off?" Tsuna jokingly asked.

"Nah, nothing like that."

Yes, he was afraid that it would be like last time where almost the entire Vongola crew in Japan showed up for dinner. Luckily, Akira was a sociable person but he knew his current boyfriend did not really like crowds. The guardian explained that the senior was busy with his internship and perhaps he would invite him over for dinner when it ends.

"Don't worry Tsuna-nii. He's a really nice person. Very sweet and kind."

"Okay," the guardian could tell that the brunet was smiling.

The guardian hung up after reassuring his older brother that he would come back for dinner. He felt a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders when he realised that Tsuna was giving him his blessings.

* * *

Tsuna was aware of the troubled phases young adults had to go through due to how some people seem to view them as children but still expect a certain level of responsibility. They were also at the age of finding themselves and their place in this world. He understood how difficult it was to suddenly transition from a happy go lucky teen to a competent adult. In his case, he and his friends had to grow up fast way too soon. Which was why he wanted his younger siblings to have semi-normal lives. Nothing in the mafia was ever normal though so he couldn't wish for completely normal lives for I-Pin, Fuuta, or especially Lambo.

With the ever-present fear of people targeting his family, Tsuna normally liked to keep tabs on his family members so he didn't feel like he was doing anything wrong when he ordered a little background check into Lambo's new boyfriend.

Just to make sure he wasn't part of a rival mafia family, of course.

Reborn might call him nosy, and Yamamoto may call him paranoid but he really did it with his best interest at heart. Bless Gokudera for never questioning him and just going along with it. By Thursday morning, just two days after Tsuna had requested the background check, Gokudera had placed a thin blue file on top of his paperwork for the day.

"I figured you might want to look at this first."

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun," he said, as he flipped to the first page.

Kitagawa Daisuke was the son of Kitagawa Keisuke, who was the founder and CEO of Kitagawa Vineyards Pte. Ltd, a winery originally from the north that had ventured their business into Namimori just ten years ago. He was the eldest of three sons at 24 years old and was the most likely candidate for taking over the winery. Interestingly, Kitagawa Daisuke was studying to become a vet right after high school at Namimori School of Veterinary Medicine but dropped out to enroll in a business course at Namimori University. His mother was a known socialite with ties to several businesses in many areas. His grandmother on his mother's side was married to a yakuza member but divorced due to conciliatory differences.

"Ha, the yakuza!" Tsuna exclaimed, "I'm not being paranoid and it's a good thing I'm nosy," he announced to the two skeptics present in the room.

"The grandmother hasn't been in significant contact with the yakuza. Although she has a close friend in the yakuza, the family the friend is tied to isn't dealing with anything illegal and they're distantly Vongola allies," Gokudera informed him.

Well, that's a relief for starters. Tsuna scanned through his recent activity log, apparently, he had gone to the hospital for a health checkup just recently. He hoped the man didn't have any serious illnesses. A short description further down the log made Tsuna's eyes pop out of his socket. It was just one word, but he shouldn't be seeing that word 5 times.

"What's this?" he showed the offending word to his storm guardian.

"I'm afraid it's true. There are security footages I can get from the streets-"

"No, no. Not necessary."

"What's wrong Tsuna," Yamamoto asked.

"He's been to five _omiai_ meetings in a month. Why is he looking for a wife when he has Lambo? Does Lambo even know?"

"This might be just a theory but he's rejected every one of them so I'm guessing he's being coerced," said Gokudera.

"Well if he doesn't want to get married then he just has to say so. How can he just go along with these things?"

"Don't be daft, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said, "If he wants to take over the business it won't be good to be seen with men. Heirs have to marry to produce another heir."

"That's just ridiculous!" the brunet was not liking this one bit, "So Lambo's just going to be his boy toy on the side?"

"Now, now," the rain guardian piped up, "We don't know if he's going to marry anyone. There are no more _omiai_ meetings right?"

"No. Every one of them was in June, and he has since withdrawn his profile from the matchmaking company," Gokudera confirmed.

"There you go," Yamamoto smiled, "Kitagawa wanted to be a vet. Vets can't be horrible people."

"That's an absurd conclusion to draw," Gokudera said drily.

"I don't know, I don't want Lambo to get hurt again. He's so happy these days," the brunet studied the photo of Kitagawa Daisuke.

The man was worlds apart from Akira, very average looking and his smiling eyes made him appear kind and trustworthy.

"You know what, I won't do anything," the Vongola Tenth declared, "It's his relationship and it's none of my business. If he is aware of all these _omiai_ meetings and is still dating him then they must have worked something out."

"Or he doesn't know anything," Gokudera added.

Crap, he hadn't thought of that.

"Should we tell him then?" Tsuna wondered out loud.

The rain guardian hummed noncommittally, "It isn't our place to tell him though. Plus the meetings were all in June before they had started dating so technically he wasn't cheating."

While Tsuna agreed with what Yamamoto said, he didn't like what he had learned one bit.


End file.
